Station 316
by EnergiyaB
Summary: If you believe that free thought and action are necissary for human development, join the UNSS. We are always looking for recruits, even where you wouldn't expect. Orphans are preffered. Inspired by Knights of Cydonia by Muse.
1. Chapter 1: A Beginning

A black car was parked in the driveway of the house. It clearly wasn't supposed to be there. No one ever came to visit Alex, especially in a black Crown Victoria and after dark.

Alex disliked this, as he often wanted to have friends over but always had to make some excuse that they couldn't visit him. He couldn't let it get out that he lived on his own. He always made excuses like his parents were sick, that they had the cable guy coming that day to install a new internet connection and such. But to tell the truth meant to tell that his parents were nowhere to be found, but telling the truth also meant the possibility of the government finding out as well.

You see, the government didn't really like fourteen year olds living on their own. They preferred sending them to foster homes where they could be monitored, an option that Alex didn't want to accept. Why would he have to live with people who never met him in his life and have to see a counsellor every week? He could keep his parent's house in reasonable condition and take care of himself using the money that his parents left him. As long as the hydro bill was paid, no one suspected a thing.

By forging their signatures, he was able to dodge nearly every legal bullet, even though they died ten years previous. Death records were easily obtainable by the government of Canada, yet somehow the case slipped through the cracks.

His parents died in a plane crash coming back from a business summit in the 'states. Why his mother decided to accompany his father on the trip, no one will ever know. The aircraft lost control over the Rockies over Washington State and slammed into a cliff face. There was no hope for survival.

The day after, Alex was sent to live with his grandmother, who as nice as she could be was in ill health. It eventually became his job to look after her as she aged, making him able to look after himself in the process. After she was forced into a nursing home, he was left with little choice. Either he was to go into a foster home or try to tough it out on his own at the age of twelve. He chose the latter.

Moving back into his old home was the hardest day of his life. The sleepy Vancouver home made all of the old memories of his early childhood come flooding back. How he missed those days. It wasn't long before he made the place his own and erased most of what the home used to look like. Now it was his and no one was going to take it away from him and put him into an orphanage.

Now there was a black sedan parked outside his house. It had a government license plate, reading C-something. He felt a sinking feeling in his stomach, they had come for him. It was almost inevitable. All he could do was face them like a mature human, running from them would go against all that he was able to accomplish over the years where he lived on his own. He wasn't a child anymore.

Rain started to fall as he slowly walked over to the vehicle and peered into its tinted windows. At such a short distance, it was possible to see the interior which as far as he could tell was empty. Now who would just leave a vehicle in his driveway? They might already have been inside, which by the looks of the front door being ajar they were.

Now wanting to get out of the rain, Alex hurried up the front stairs of the house and into the foyer not thinking for a second if there could have been anyone other than a government official inside.

"Hello." came a voice to his right. He turned to face the speaker, who was seated in the living room. He was an older man, not too old though. He was the same age Alex's father would have been, though it definitely was not his father. He was dressed in a cheap suit that could easily be identified as over two decades old.

"Hello." was Alex's subconscious reply; he was too startled by how the man had already become so comfortable in a home that wasn't his own. "Can I help you?" he implored.

"I'd like some water if it's not too much trouble." he replied, casually as if the answer wasn't too out of the ordinary.

"Okay." His voice cracked, quite embarrassingly as he was taken off guard by the statement made by his visitor. Alex, uncomfortable quickly ran into the kitchen to fill a glass with the sink and bring it back into the front room. This was probably the oddest situation he had ever been in.

The man graciously accepted the glass and began to drink. Alex just sat across from him, trying to pick up on what he was thinking. When he finished the water, Alex got up the courage to say another line. "Usually there is a reason why someone breaks into a house and it's not to get a glass of water. The only two reasons I can think of are that you are either here to rob me or you want to arrest me."

"I'm here for neither."

"Then why did you break in my door and come in here?" Alex asked, more seriously than the last statement, trying to press him into divulging more information. The man simply stared back at him, not intensely and not passively, just neutral.

"I'm not asking you again. Why are you here?" he asked again, his voice now rising above its normal volume.

"Persistent; I like that." the man said with a small smile, before taking another sip of water.

_Now he's just creeping me out._

"If you don't tell me what the hell you are doing here, I am going to call the cops damn it!" he sputtered, visibly shaken. He pulled a cell phone out of his pocket. "See, I can dial 911 and they will be here in less than a minute."

"Come on, we both know you aren't going to do that. If they come, they most certainly run a background check on you and find that you are an orphan." he said in a relaxed tone. The phone held in Alex's hand was slowly lowered to his side as he took on the full weight of the words. "Isn't that right Alex?"

He stared at the man. If he was here from the government, he would have probably introduced himself better, no federal agent would be acting in such a manner.

"I believe I should be explaining myself?" he asked rhetorically.

"Yes!" Alex said, exasperated. "By all means, please explain yourself!"

"Take a seat and I will explain everything." Alex wasn't used to being ordered around by other people, especially people who he didn't know in his own house but for some reason, he complied with the request.

"Now you are familiar with Canadian statutory law regarding child welfare I presume." he said, already knowing the answer.

"Yes, how could I not. If I didn't I would have been discovered half a decade ago. But you would already know that wouldn't you."

"In fact, I thought it was just luck that you managed up until now." he said lowly, before continuing to explain. "So with those laws, it allows policemen to be dispatched anywhere by the child welfare bureau to how the put it: collect them. In reality, it is a free and universal arrest warrant. They can batter down the doors of any house they want and arrest the subject in question."

"...And where does that leave me?" asked Alex in rapid succession.

"I'm getting there, in time." the man said in the same casual voice that he used when he first spoke to Alex. "You see the laws just need to be enacted by any bureau member and the arrest warrant can be carried out the next day. Your address and your name were on one of the applications to the police yesterday." he spoke the words of your with high emphasis.

"So you are saying that I am to be arrested tomorrow." said Alex with an air of uncertainty

"Exactly." was the man's simple reply.

"Why are you telling me this? Why is this happening? Why..." he began to lose control and trail off. This was his worst nightmare happening to him in real life. He sat down heavily, burying his head in his hands.

The man cut him off. "Calm down. I'm here to help." he said calmly.

"How can I even trust you? How did you even find out about this?" he continued his questions.

"As for finding out about this whole situation, the answer is very simple. I monitor the bureau everyday for the same sort of cases like the one you are in. Secondly, you don't seem to have any choice in the matter whether you trust me or not. If you don't, you can sure trust child services when they come to pick you up tomorrow. So does that answer your question or not?" the man was severely out of breath from his speech and took a long pause afterwards.

"Kind of." Alex mumbled.

"Then what haven't I explained properly?"

"Why exactly are you here and what do you have to gain from this? Why would you spend time hacking into government records, and breaking into private property is the general question I am asking you."

"I understand you have no idea what my motives are. Sometimes it is good to not know something until you are ready for it, but I do suppose I should tell you something to placate you."

"Yes, please do."

"I am an employer. I seek out new applicants, usually people in your position."

"Yeah, great." scoffed Alex. "You're basically blackmailing me into working for you. Now if you wouldn't mind..."

The man cut him off very suddenly. "Now don't be hasty here."

"I'm not interested and that's final. Also as a word of advice, it isn't usually good to break into people's homes when you want them to work for you. Putting up an advertisement online usually suffices." he began to use the same nonchalant way of speaking the man used on him minutes earlier.

The man stared at him for what seemed like several minutes, as if to size up Alex for some sort of purpose.

"I know when I am getting nowhere." he said, getting up from his seat on the couch.

"Exactly."

He was visually annoyed with the way Alex had been shutting him out and not trusting him. Gathering his belongings, which were only his hat and jacket, he approached the door where he paused.

"If you change your mind." he said simply as he dropped a small object on the front landing. "There will be a taxicab waiting for you at the end of the street tomorrow morning." and with those words, he exited and didn't look back.

It took Alex a few minutes to advance towards the object after being severely shaken by his experience. He wondered if what he said was true. Would this be his last night in his house?

He was thinking of that when he finally came within visual distance of the object the man dropped. It was the house key that he thought he had lost nearly a week ago; he knew it was this, because as soon as he got it he locked the deadbolt to the front door from the inside.

What the key was attached to was more foreign than the key. It was a small business card, simple with large text which gave an address. Alex was about to crumple it up and throw it in the garbage when something in the back of his mind stopped him from committing the deed. This might be his only ticket out of being forced into a foster home. But at what cost, would it be better just to accept his fate?

Just to be sure that the note was in fact a business card; he glanced at it and turned it over in his hands which revealed two sides of writing on the paper.

_"Station Three-Hundred Sixteen, Mandated and Securely Operated UNSS Operation Since 1983 (For before 1983, see Station Three-Hundred Fifteen.)"_

On the rear, scrawled with a thick pencil was the numbers 8:15. This occurred to Alex that this was the time that the taxi would be waiting for him the next morning, but this wasn't the thing that most intrigued him about the note.

UNSS stood for nothing, except some Bulgarian University which obviously wasn't what the man was talking about. A university halfway around the world wouldn't have an 'operation' in some random Canadian city. He made sure of this by entering the abbreviation in Wikipedia right away. Searching it on Google did nothing more than turn up similar hits.

It wasn't like the card even had an address on it, if it did, he could have just entered it into a map website which would have also given a description of the business. But it didn't have one. What even was the point of this card anyways? Usually business cards were used to attract people to a business, right?

Alex slumped back in his chair, tired of searching for any leads onto what the company did, where they were or who was employed there. He wondered to himself why the hell he was even considering going. It was probably him subconsciously trying to suppress the fear that any normal person would be feeling given the situation.

"I just need some sleep." Alex said to himself, with no one there to hear except himself except a continually changing digital clock. It was past midnight already. He put his head in his hands and sighed at the realization at the time. He was dead tired, even though he was scared out of his wits. Perhaps sleep would bring a new solution to his problems.

He slowly lowered himself into bed, not taking the time to take off his shoes. He needed to be ready to book it at the drop of a hat. He usually was good about not doing this as he was the only one in the house to clean up after himself. Tonight was an exception, because tomorrow he wouldn't be living at his house, one way or another. That is if he trusted the guy.

Alex's alarm clock went off at ten to eight in the morning, as always. He awoke with a bitter taste in his mouth and wishing that the events in the past day didn't take place, but he knew that they did. Being naive never got him anywhere, so he pulled himself up and out into the hall.

It was deserted, like normal. No one else had been there for years. Today perhaps, that would change. Just when it would happen, he couldn't tell.

Just before falling asleep, he decided to take the taxi instead of the cop car ride out of his house. He thought it might be good just to check out what this guy was exactly offering in the way of a job position. Just as long as it wasn't a sweatshop, he was down with any ticket out of going to a foster home.

As soon as he made his way into the main floor from his room on the second, he was greeted by a knock on the door. The noise of skin on the steel door was unmistakeable. A sinking feeling emerged from the pit of his stomach. It was them.

The first instinctual thing to do would be to look to see who was there from the front window, but that would mean also giving away that he was there as well. Alex would have to be content with taking a glance at his visitors from one of the spare bedrooms on the ground floor. The view to the front door was obstructed by a hedge, but he could still see any cars that were parked out front.

Sure enough, a police car was parked in the front drive and an officer was exiting the passenger car door. Alex quickly ducked his head beneath the sill to avoid being spotted. Hopefully he was swift enough.

Another knock at the door, and this time it was accompanied by a voice shouting something incomprehensible at the supposed occupant inside. Alex's breathing rate dropped, slow enough not to arise suspicion from the uninvited guests on the front porch.

He was careful to keep noise to a minimum when he tiptoed out of the room, keeping his head low. He made his way across the hall in a diagonal fashion around the stairs and down into the back hall that led outside. Another voice interrupted his progress.

"Open up, it's the metropolitan police!" was a shout that was made to pierce the door. Alex was about to open his mouth to make a fake promise to them that he would come to the door, but he checked himself. It would be to his benefit if he could get out of there without them even knowing that he was even home that day.

Not having to remember to put shoes on or lock the door, he opened the back door very gradually and softly as to not arise any suspicion from the men out front. The hard part would be shutting it.

"We have the authority to forcefully enter your house." one announced. Alex's eyes grew wider at the statement. 'Focus' he thought, as in every situation there was some way to use any force to your own advantage. Just think of something...

"The door has to come down." The sentence was final, not loud or directed at Alex but final none the less. The door was going to be kicked in and it did.

In an ear-splitting resounding smash, the door was lifted off of its hinges in a flurry of a feet and legs. At exactly the same millisecond, Alex shut the back door with force. The sound of the door being shut was overruled by the sound of the other door being destroyed. Thankfully so, but the fourteen year old didn't want to take any chances.

He never ran so fast in his life, but never before in his life was his entire life at stake. He bolted out of the back yard, jumped the back gate and continued up the back lane up to where he could imagine the taxi would be waiting for him. Checking his watch, he found it was eight thirteen. With luck, the cab was already where it was supposed to be. Well, he would only have to wait a few more seconds.

"Come on... Come on... Come on!" Alex growled to himself, wishing that he could keep up his pace long enough to get to the end of the lane.

He turned the corner at the end and looked around. Sure enough there was a yellow Prius with a man in a brown uniform leaning against the door. The person glanced up from his shoes and up at me.

"Hey are you..." he started to ask the boy running up his right flank.

"Yes, I'm Alex Sharp now get in the car." The taxi driver simply nodded and got inside again, not really caring about what was going on, as long as he was getting paid.

Alex hurriedly slid over the hood, opened the back seat and hopped inside in one swift motion.

"You must be in a hurry." said the taxi driver, making small talk as he pulled out of the block.

"You don't know the half of it." breathed Alex, now getting a full lung's worth of air into his system.


	2. Chapter 2: Zeta

The ride through the city was as uneventful; no police stopped them as they passed. It was a reprieve from the morning's proceedings. Most likely, they had no clue as to Alex's whereabouts which was a good thing. As of today, he was listed as an official fugitive, completely trusting his deliverance to a mysterious stranger that had visited him the night before.

Although the drive itself was unremarkable, the route they took was very odd, often going around blocks a few times, going deliberately through suburbs that they had no intention of ever stopping there. This was something that no one would normally do, especially if they wanted to be somewhere in a hurry.

It took nearly an hour to move only half a click. It was a Sunday at two o'clock so such a long time allotted to travel was unwarranted.

"Do you know where you are going?" Alex asked, after waiting a while in the back seat, not sensing that there was any particular reason for the cabbie to be taking his route.

"Yes and no." replied the cab driver.

"What do you mean by yes and no? Wouldn't you know where you were going or not." He asked again, this time more directly.

The car stopped at a red light and the driver turned to face Alex for a few seconds. "It's just that I wasn't given an address, just this freaking treasure map." he handed back a white piece of paper to the boy which was covered in a list of instructions on where to go. The difference between this set and any normal set of instructions was that there were no street names mentioned, only numbers of blocks and which direction to turn upon reaching them.

"That's ridiculous." Alex said, reading over the amount of ones that they had already passed over, over fifty different lines of instructions. It was almost at the end, so they would be reaching their destination shortly.

"I know." replied the cab driver, taking back the paper in time for the light to change to green. "So you know what I mean by I know and don't know at the same time."

"Sorry about that then."

"Don't be!" exclaimed the driver. "This is the most ludicrous set of directions ever. It's a good thing he's paying for all of this extra gas I'm wasting." he chuckled. The bill must have been massive. If the guy left the bill for Alex, he probably wouldn't have been able to pay it.

Eventually, they reached an intersection in downtown Vancouver. It was a decent area, not a lot of low-lifes out in the streets. It wasn't like the downtown of another Canadian city in the centre of the country.

"If I followed all of the directions down to the letter..." started the cabbie, looking over the sheet a few times. "This should be the intersection I'm supposed to drop you off at."

"What, no address?"

"Well, what do you think? If I had an address, I would have just gone there not all over the whole damn city." he looked back at Alex with a smirk on his face. The boy wasn't finding this funny at all. "It's the white building across the street I think." he sighed.

"Thanks for the ride then, it was nice and scenic." Alex said sarcastically, as he exited the car.

"If you want another ride like that, just ask. That's if you don't mind paying another eighty dollars, which by the way you will have to let the person who sent you know that they have to pay to United Taxi by the end of the month."

"Sure, I'll let him know."

"Okay, bye now." replied the taxi man, before Alex shut the taxi door one last time. He waited for a minute for the taxi to race off into the distance and to another customer, perhaps not as profitable as Alex. Man, he was going to be annoyed at the bill, whoever he was.

Now on the outside of a vehicle, Alex could see exactly where he was which was no where he had seen and with no way of knowing how he got there, there was no way for him to guess. The two street signs could have been mandarin for all he knew; they were totally unknown to him. The buildings even looked different, made in ultra-modern all glass construction plans. The only one that had any paint on it was the one that was mentioned by the cabbie.

He walked over to the sidewalk, dodging a car or two in the process. The building loomed over him like Goliath over David. It was around ten to fifteen stories tall, and looked as though it was built around thirty or forty years ago and had that brick and concrete look. The paint on it was well maintained and looked recent. At least the place looked respectable, not some seedy illegal corporation running out of the port.

Opening the doors made a rush of cool air hit Alex's face. The glass double doors opened to a simple atrium, spartanly furnished and deserted. Well, deserted save one person working the desk in the front. She glanced up at Alex for a split second and continued moving papers around on her desk, and putting a few of them into the drawer beneath the table.

He walked up to the desk slowly trying to take in what was around him. Sadly, it wasn't much. White covered the walls, keeping in step with the outside of the building. No pictures hung on the walls and...

"Are you looking for someone?" asked the receptionist.

"Wha..." he was caught by surprise by the question, not expecting it at all. He did however quickly collect himself. "Oh, yes. Someone from station 316 has sent for me to come here."

"Okay, let me check to see if I can contact them to confirm with them." she sighed, another routine check. She ran her finger along a list of occupants on the switchboard that connected the room to the various suites in the building. By the end of the list, she had still not found the contact button. She looked puzzled for a second and then visibly remembered something that she had long forgotten.

"Oh, I just recalled the last time someone was here for them. I can't believe that I forgot that they don't have an intercom installed in their office. Just let me check on another list for their suite number."

Alex nodded, and waited for her to open up a small book containing the complete list of the occupants of the building and completed the same process that she used to look through the intercom board.

"Here we go, Station 316. Just take the elevator to the top floor and to the right until you hit the end. Their office takes up the entire right side of the building on that floor. Got it?"

"Yep." affirmed Alex.

"Then have a nice day." she replied abruptly. She continued on her work, not wanting to continue a conversation. Maybe it was the mention of the station. Regardless, he still walked around her, got into the elevator and depressed the button for fifteen which was the highest the elevator went.

With an audible 'ding' and the sound doors of the elevator closing, Alex sped upwards to meet his fate, with whomever he met there.

The doors eventually opened after a laborious effort by the motor to reach the top. They revealed an interesting sight. A wall of glass open to the elements let in enough natural light to make it redundant for there to be any fluorescent bulbs in the ceiling and there weren't. Only the sunlight was lighting this hall. It was a nice sight, plus it allowed Alex to get his bearings.

He was approximately south-west of his home, in perhaps in the downtown part of Vancouver. It was most likely off centred, as he could see the skyline from a distance, and his view was not immediately restricted by any larger buildings.

Walking along the edge of the glass, he peered down to check for any police cars. There were none. It wasn't like he was some high-risk criminal or anything; they weren't going to devote much of their budget trying to bring in an orphan, albeit, they would still arrest him if they got the chance.

The door that he was directed to was unadorned, with no visible signs that set it apart from any other door that anyone would see. There wasn't even a logo near the door designating it as "Station 316" or a number on the door that indicated the suite number.

When he eventually got to the end of the hall, he hesitated before knocking almost fearing what he would encounter. But he wasn't going to abandon his house, evade police and take an hour and a half taxi ride for nothing.

*Knock Knock*

On the other side of the door, Alex could hear the shuffling of feet on linoleum. The noise sounded like it was approaching the door rapidly.

"Sorry, we are currently closed. Can you come back at a later time." was the feminine voice that answered his tapping.

"Well, why are you here then?" Alex asked, curious as to what exactly was going on. He wasn't expecting an answer like that. He was sent here, wasn't he?

"Because I..." She caught herself before saying another word and then changed the direction of her answer. "Look kid, we're always closed here. We don't sell anything so why don't you just run along."

"What if I was sent here?"

She paused for a moment while thinking of a way to answer him through the door. "Who sent you?"

"Some person visited my house yesterday and sent me here via taxi." he put it simply as he could.

"Oooooh, so you're that new..." she paused to open the door. "Sorry, sorry, sorry."

The door opened and revealed a person, dressed in blue jeans and a black t-shirt emblazoned by what a symbol that Alex didn't recognize, yet nothing to distinguish herself from any other person. She was older than Alex, but probably by about five years.

"Don't just stand there, come in!" she chided. Alex was about to hesitate but then quickly followed her inside.

The room he walked into was barely large enough to squeeze into, perhaps about two feet wide, and about five feet across. The room was unfurnished, and painted a pale white with no trim, accents or pictures. It was almost like an airlock in a spacecraft or a submersible as both of the longer sides had full length double doors, one opening into the outside and one opening into supposedly 'Station 316'.

"Hold on a second." the girl said, as she stepped to the side of the door and began to slide across a number of variations of locks. Alex wondered why they cared so much about security and then just went ahead and opened the door for him, but then he saw a small video screen on the opposite side of the door, which showed the hallway right outside the office and would have clearly depicted Alex a few seconds earlier.

When she was finished locking up, she turned around very quickly and completed the same process on the second set of doors, but this time unlocking them.

"I'm Alex, by the way." he said, automatically.

"Nice to meet you Alex, I'm Claire" she replied, extending a hand, for him to shake before returning to her task. "You must be the kid Garrett went to talk to yesterday. To be honest, he thought you weren't going to show."

Garrett must have been the one that came in the night, but it would be safe to ask. "Who's Garrett again?"

She put her hand over her face sighing. "You mean he didn't tell you his name?"

"No actually."

"That silly bugger, it's no wonder we have no luck with recruits. They never come and the ones that do, never make it past the first day." she added another sentence in rapid succession "Except for me of course, I'm still here."

"So you're saying that you and Garrett are the only ones that work here?"

"Sort of, but I can explain everything later once we are inside." and with that she undid the last deadbolt and opened the steel doors.

Similar to the hallway, the entire room was lit by the sun, shining through a large floor to ceiling window. The room itself was not large but definitely larger than the small space that they had been in before. This was especially true with the ceiling which was vaulted, with the walls narrowing into a convergence point around thirty feet into the air. The rooms in it were open on the top save a sheet of glass, to allow the light in, yet keep noise out.

The walls were white, yet they were covered in maps of the world on one side, the side that was to the right of Alex. They were of different time periods and locations for instance there were ones from 17th century Europe, medieval China and ones that were indistinguishable due to them being in a foreign language.

It didn't look like the traditional office space and the living-room style furniture at the end didn't make it look any more professional. It was a real odd set up; it was like walking into someone's house. When you got passed the entranceway and into the actual room portion, there was a huge collection of computer equipment, sprawled over a massive desk the size of a pool table. Wires and Monitors were everywhere and if you tried to remove a single piece from the set, you would have to have dismantled the entire thing.

"So, what do you think?" Claire questioned, standing beside Alex and watching his expression change when he walked in.

"I'm speechless." he said with a small laugh, not expecting anything that he had encountered so far. It was a good thing too, because he just thought that he would end up in some boring, cubicle filled old office.

"Good, you should feel that way." She added, leaving Alex where he stood and made her way over to the pile of digital equipment. "I just have to get Garrett out."

"Can't you just call him? This place isn't that big." he asked, following her.

"He didn't tell you anything, didn't he?" she asked. Alex shook his head. "Thought so." she chuckled.

Her fingers quickly entered in a command into the system, which was comprised of grey and black text on the screen.

ENT_COMM?

comm.\\ defrost_subject(beta1)

/waiting...

defrost_subject(beta1)_SECONDED

DEFROST T-minus 15 SEC.

"What is all this?" Alex asked, pointing to the screen.

"Don't come near it!" exclaimed Claire, making Alex jump backwards in surprise nearly hitting the wall behind him. Both of them eventually calmed down before she began to speak again but in a much calmer tone. "Sorry about that, it's just that this is very sensitive equipment. If you knock anything off, it can cost lives."

"I understand." Alex said, not knowing why it was necessary for him to be so careful, but respecting her wishes anyways. He planted his hands firmly in his pockets.

"I didn't want to scare you, but it's my only rule and it can't be broken." she said, this time in a more understanding voice.

comm.\\DEFROST(beta1)_COMPLETE

ENT_COMM?

Alex turned when he heard a noise of a door opening down the hall running off of the main room. What exactly had been done?

"You called?" asked a familiar voice, decisively male. The same person who had come to visit Alex the night before rounded the corner and was now in front of both Claire and Alex. He was strangely dressed in plaid flannel pants and a loose white t-shirt. "Hey, it's the new recruit!" he said overjoyed. "It's great to see that you came."

"He's here, yet he has no clue what's going on." Claire explained.

"Okay, I was going to explain everything last night, but..."

"Yeah, about that..." Alex stumbled awkwardly. "I'm really sorry about rushing you out the door."

"Hey, no problem." Garrett put his hand on the kid's shoulder. "It's not like we haven't gone through this before ourselves. It can be really tough." Alex weakly smiled at this.

"So, should I start up an orientation sequence?" interrupted the tech.

"Umm sure..." Garrett paused, pondering what action to take. "Just first... Is it Alex?"

"Yes, that's my name."

"Good, I remembered!" exclaimed Garrett, "Anyways, where was I? Oh, just get him fitted with a new set of gloves, give him a quick physical and then show him the ISTAR protocol. After that, then you can run orientation sequence...Custom." Alex had no clue what they were talking about and sort of stared at both of them blankly.

"Trust me, it will all make sense in a second." said Claire, trying to make him feel better.

"Exactly, so remember what I said, execute that and I will be waiting for Alex over the LAN. I'm just going to stick to simulations for now; four-eighty-nine is going to get mad at us again if we create any more black space. Understand?"

"Yes sir." replied Claire, with a mild yet strong tone.

"You know I dislike it when you say that." replied Garrett, turning towards the adjacent hallway. "Just because we are in the UN doesn't mean you have to refer to me as your CO."

"I do know that, I say it now just to bug you."

"It works!" he replied, light-heartedly.

Claire smiled to herself as she typed another set of instructions into the mess of computer equipment.

incomm.\\subject(beta1)REQUEST=FRZ

comm.\\REFREEZE_subject(beta1)

L/D?

LANdef_(Dateoverride_4ht)

"You put him into a good mood. It's not often we get a new person here. Our service doesn't get a lot of people wanting to join. I don't know why myself. It's actually a great profession."

"What job are you talking about exactly? I have no idea what you guys do or what you are talking about. All I hear is a jumbled mess of military and techie abbreviations, like what do you guys do exactly?"

"All in good time." was her simple, yet layered answer. "First I must do some things."

Like what? Thought Alex to himself. No other job he could think of accepted your application before showing you the job description.

The computer operator led him down near the end of the hall past all of the mess of the workstation she was seated at. As he saw before, there was the living room suite situated against the glass wall. It was quite nice; all of the pieces of furniture were at the oldest only a year or two old. Between the window and the hallway that Garrett disappeared down was a large flat screen plasma screen. It was a nice accent.

"This is where we have most of our visitors when they come." she indicated. "But we mostly use it ourselves most days."

"I see." Alex said. "But didn't you say at the door that you don't get any people coming around here."

"Not through the door we don't." she explained, turning to the trainee. Alex just looked more bewildered. "Look, if you don't ask any more questions, I can explain everything better."

Alex nodded, though he still could not understand any piece of information thrown his way about this whole "Station 316" operation. He tried to connect the puzzle, yet failed.

"Here are the ISTAR machines, otherwise known as employee quarters. Each one is filled with the same equipment that is on my table." She slammed a fist onto the front of the first one in the row. "Unlike my set-up however, they are virtually indestructible. They also come with super-advanced NBC protection as well as being bulletproof and fire-resistant."

Alex observed the machines, propped up against the outer wall of the suite, spanning the gap between the spur off of the "living room". They were much too shallow for anyone to lie directly down in them, plus why were machines living spaces? It probably would be explained later.

"Mines at the end, then Garrett's, a spare one and then yours." she said, tapping each one in turn. "I'll unlock yours at the end of the tour." Alex nodded again, knowing he might just figure out what was happening.

Further down the row of what looked like floor-to-ceiling washing machines was a huge cylindrical construct, completely made of stainless steel and coated in glass. A small computer console marked out an entrance to the device.

"This is what makes all of this work." she said, looking at the machine. "It is our carbon synthesizer and computer server. I've been here nearly five years and I still don't know how it works so don't ask."

"Okay then."

"Then we have the mess hall" she said, turning around and showing Alex a set of chairs and a table, clearly more than the number of people that worked in the office or ever could.

A circle depicting the world from the North Pole, the symbol of the United Nations was mounted on the wall over the set and covered in a layer of bronze. Two attached swords were crossed underneath the globe, instead of the usual two strands of wheat. This was probably to distinguish the 'UNSS' from the regular UN. Again, he said nothing.

"So that is all that we have here, I'm sure you have many things you want to ask about this place, but I will leave that to Garrett to explain. In the mean time, just sit down and I can get you into the system in just a second." Alex nodded. "Good, this will only take a second. I have to take some health tests first." She opened a door off the side of the dining room and disappeared into what looked to be a storage closet.

Alex took a seat at the rectangular table, in one of the end chairs. He just felt off, disconnected from the rest of the world. The job that he was being offered just seemed too good to be true. The workplace was excellent and well maintained. The staff was nice, but they seemed to be hiding something.

Claire came back with a cardboard box, overflowing with a jumbled mess of objects intertwined in each other.

"Now hold still." she said, taking out a square swab out of a package and dabbing the exposed part of Alex's arm with it.

"Are you going to inject me with something?" Alex hated IVs, and was thus very nervous when she started the usual procedure for connecting one to a drip.

"No, just trust me on this. I'm not even going to use a needle." she said in a calming voice. "Just hold still."

"Okay, I trust you."

She removed a cigar shaped device from the same box that she took the swab from. It had a small LCD display on the side alongside a serial number that started with UN. The end was covered in plastic, and with a small motion the cap was removed and the end was revealed to be made of a space age semi-porous plastic material.

Claire quickly slid up a switch on the side which made it buzz into life. Wasting no time, she deftly stuck it right into the disinfected area on Alex's arm. He winced, thinking that some sort of pain would come with the motion, but he felt none. It must have been using some sort of regional anaesthetic as the device felt painless.

As quickly as she stuck him, the machine started to beep prompting her to retract it to near eye level. Clicking the button a few times, the screen began to change and gave back several readings scrolling through several screens of medical data: blood type, heart rate, blood glucose levels.

"Blood type AB+... Your resting heart rate is normal, minus the obvious frightening factor... Yes, you are all clear, no need for more tests." she murmured, taking the device and hitting the back end of it, causing it to split open and reveal a short USB device which she promptly removed. "Now, all of your medical records are on file which will be very helpful, think of it as your first physical." she explained, holding up the small digital documentation.

"I didn't know they had to include that information though..." mumbled Alex, thoroughly confused.

"Unless you haven't already noticed, we aren't your typical employer." she said, with a touch of sarcasm.

"I really didn't get that vibe from this place." he answered her sarcasm with a little of his own.

She smiled, taking out a pair of white gloves made out of cloth with visible wiring and computer chips underneath the surface giving it an uneven surface. In several places, silicon jutted out from the inside and creating the clichéd green and copper colour that most circuit boards get. They were clearly not made to serve a purpose and not for fashion.

"You look like you're a medium." she stated, looking over his hands. "But just to be sure, you should try them on."

Alex tentatively put on the set of tight fitting gloves, covering his hands with them. He instantly felt something was off. There were pads of silicon on every pressure sensitive area on his hands. It felt as though they were an extension of his hands, making it seem as though they were an extension of his own hands.

He flexed his index finger, pulling it back quickly. The glove itself reacted to his action and sent a jolt straight to his brain with a tingling sensation flowing through his veins. It wasn't pain, but it didn't exactly feel comfortable.

"Side effects of the neural interface." she said, noticing his discomfort and explaining the issue. "Try not to move your fingers to much, you'll be in a machine soon enough." she continued, placing the box back into the storage closet. Alex couldn't help but stare at his hands. He wondered what sort of work he would be doing warranted such equipment. Neural interfaces? This wasn't some sci-fi show wasn't it? For all he knew...

The tech girl came back empty handed, save a computer chip the size and shape of a chip used in a camera. "Come along now." she said. As he braced himself to get up, Alex braced himself against the back of the chair, giving him a very unpleasant sensation up his arm. He winced, nearly in pain.

"Now before you enter the machine, I have to tell you something. Whatever you see, hear or feel is not real. None of it is, just like a 3d movie or something. If you need to get out for whatever reason, just tell Garrett and you can be out of there in literally a second since it's the LAN." Alex nodded. "In the meantime, I will be preparing your files over there for any long term use of the device including your AI which I will need a description of."

"Hold up." Alex interrupted. "I got the first part of what you said, but what is this AI you're talking about?" he knew that it stood for artificial intelligence, but in this context he didn't have a clue.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. Each of the machines comes with what we would call an Artificial Human Interface, it is a graphical virtual assistant shall we say. What it literally does is give the user a way of interacting with the computer mainframe in a way that's less complicated. For instance, you can just ask your AI to get out of the machine instead of entering in lines of data."

"I have no idea what you just said." Alex replied truthfully.

"Just, who would best work with you as an assistant?"

"I really don't know. Surprise me!"

"I will just set it to automatic then. The computer will pick an avatar from somewhere in your brain it thinks has the most potential."

"Got it, now can I please just get into the machine and find out what the hell is going on. I really have no context for anything you are saying." Alex stated, sternly.

"I understand I won't show you anything else until you're in." she said apathetically. She took out a key and shoved it into a lock on the outside of the machine, twisted it and the door of the ISTAR opened.

What was inside wasn't that spectacular. It was just a white plastic room, with the material covering every surface. Also, it was noticeable that the machine wasn't very deep. It had perhaps a two foot depth. It was clearly too short to sleep in, there was however a chair and a pedestal right next to it with a hand depression in it. Alex guessed that that is where the glove connected his body to the computer system.

Claire removed a computer chip from her pocket and pushed it into a slot on outer plastic wall of the inside of the machine.

"Zeta chip activated." a disembodied voice said. Alex looked around, trying to find the source of the words.

"That means it's working in correct order." Claire explained, pressing a red button next to the newly placed chip.

"Zeta chip correctly installed." The same voice said in the same monotone.

"That's the go ahead." she explained further. "It's ready." Alex simply stared blankly back at her. "Take a seat and put your hand on the device! I thought you wanted to find out how it operates!" she continued, exasperated. Alex quickly snapped to focus and quickly took a seat on the operator's chair.

"Good, I will contact you once you are on the other side, but first do you have any ideas for an AI."

"None."

"Fully automatic then." She replied, closing the door.

Alex gave the idea of an AI a small amount of thought. Maybe the computer was already picking up on his ideas. He thought that it would be a good idea to have an AI that wasn't simply a human or something.

It would be nice to have an AI that could read your thoughts, something interesting and powerful. If you were going to have an AI, you might as well use its full potential instead of limiting it with a human body.

These thoughts didn't last long in his head however, because as he dropped his hand onto the pedestal, he blacked out.

Blacking out would be a bad metaphor because when Alex passed out, all he could see was pure white. All around him, it flooded every single space. He quickly realized that he wasn't in the small confines of a metal box anymore; he was in a new place all together. But how?

Eventually, his eyes focused again on the space around him and they adjusted to the newfound light emanating from an unknown artificial source. Straining to get his eyes used to the light, he stood up.

The area surrounding him was of a bleached white colour extending beyond any human`s possible visual range. It was perfectly flat, no curvature like on earth. It must have been an illusion of some sort. There was no machine in the world that could make a human see the things he did. If there was, it would have already been sold commercially.

Alex knew he was in the ISTAR, collapsed on the floor with his hand connected to a computer. That meant he couldn`t move around right. This all had to be visual, but just to be sure he took his hand and moved it in front of him. The hand found nothing.

This puzzled Alex, now wanting to know the full potential of the simulation. He moved his arms to the sides: nothing. Behind him: still nothing. This was very odd indeed. His foot moved almost instinctually in front of him, to test the waters of the world. It too was uninhibited by any plastic. "The simulation is excellent." he laughed in thought.

Taking initiative, he took another step and then another until the point in which he started to walk. It was not very far but was amazing. Every step was impossible, yet happened. Soon his pace quickened and he began to jog, in a circular motion as to not lose the spot at which he started at.

"Having fun?" asked a voice from Alex's right. He nearly tripped over himself in surprise. "I didn't mean to scare you." Garrett continued, now in the same system as Alex.

"It's alright, I'm just a little disoriented here. First time in virtual reality you know." Alex huffed, catching his breath.

"That's perfectly normal." added Garrett. "The first time I was in one of these machines, I lost consciousness in the LAN. It took them nearly three hours to disconnect me from the system and revive me. But I was back into the ISTAR the very next day."

"Why exactly?"

"First operation was the day after I joined." he explained, reminiscing. "But enough of that, you must be wondering what I'm talking about and what all of this is." he motioned at the empty space surrounding them. "Why we put our resources in creating a complex computer network and so forth. This is officially your inception into our organization."

"The UNSS?" asked Alex, hopeful it was the correct answer.

"Yes, the United Nations Security Service. The name itself is very vague, wouldn't you agree?" probed Garrett.

"I guess so, it doesn't really explain much about what you guys do." Alex shrugged.

"Then the name has served its purpose. It is ambiguous and is under the guise of a reputable international organization, after 1945. Before that we are called by many other names, though they all mean the same."

"Don't you mean were named another title? Like its way over 1945." Alex emphasized the word 'were'.

Garrett first replied with a type of small sly smile. "You think that do you..." he said, full of mystery. "You see, our organization has and will always exist. We are but a small link in a chain."

"That doesn't explain what UNSS was called before there was a UN."

"The UNSS has always and will always exist as I said. It exists at the same time as it does in 2010 as it existed in 1010 and at the same time at 3010. There is no difference from each time period. As one branch is named UNSS, all become the UNSS even before there is a UN."

Alex returned this comment with a blank stare. Something didn't make any sense. It was a good thing that Garrett took pity on him. "It's better if I show you."

"Yes please do."

A wall appeared in front of them, the same colour as the rest of the world: white. It was perfect for projection.

"The UNSS," began Garrett, as a set of pictures appeared on the screen. "was founded in the year 2147, in response to the growing threat posed to the UN by various dissident groups. The UNSS literally stands for the United Nations Security Service as I told you." An image showed up on the screen of the members of the Security Council ratifying a treaty to much applause.

"However, as the United Nations already had a form of security our group's forming had to for a completely different purpose. The UNSS was designed to combat people from using technology to end the world."

"It sounds like you guys are out of a comic book." Alex poked in sarcastically.

"Not everyone who can ruin the world does so by choice or because of money, pride or psychosis. Some people can destroy things without even realizing they did something wrong in the first place. In fact many of the world's disasters have been caused by people thinking they were doing the right thing." an image appeared on the screen of the titanic listing onto its bow.

"Every technology has its uses: proper and safe uses. Nuclear energy is one of the cleanest and most efficient energy sources on the planet. However, as we all know humanity has already harnessed this power for an unintended purpose." The picture of the ship was replaced by an atom bomb detonating over Hiroshima.

"So you go around making sure that these things do not occur" Alex repeated, trying to make sense of the situation. "On the same topic, why did you say that the UNSS was formed a hundred and fifty years from now? I'm really confused."

"Perhaps I should just get to the point then." suggested Garrett. Alex nodded at this. "The UNSS was formed in the future because in the future, the ability to travel between different points in time has been perfected. You can call it time travel if you want to. With time travel, comes people who want to go back in time; scientists, historians and archaeologists. It was a great achievement. However a problem arises when the plans become available to the public. Then you get people who have no idea what they are doing, travelling back and messing things up. So in response, the United Nations ratified a resolution banning the use of these machines." he motioned to the space around him.

"Naturally, people thought this new law was oppressive. They saw this as a way of the people in power being able to stay in power. The governments had immense power. They could end the life of anyone without them knowing, without any trace of them doing so. There were riots, even after the UN showed that even they didn't have the authority to use the technology. When people get something in their head, they often don't listen to reason like in this instance. That attitude cumulated in one critical event, much like the dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima."

A new image flashed onto the screen. This one of less quality of the rest of the pictures. It was simply a man in front of a red flag which read "International Historical Society". He asked in a foreign language a question to someone off screen as if to ask if they had the camera running.

"Like us, the IHS has a very ambiguous acronym." Garrett said, over the noise of the video. "Most people would not think that they could destabilize the world in a matter of seconds."

_On this day: December 14, In the 46__th__ year of the 22__nd__ Century, we as the people of the world have decided to advance into a__ new era of prosperity, stability and harmony._

"They took the UN's decision to make time-fluctuation technology very hard. They saw the move as being counter-productive and as a way of keeping the UN's control over the world's countries."

"So the UN controls the world in the future?"

"They eventually do, but the upper stations keep it from us so we don't really know happens in the future."

_We are on the verge of creating the perfect society for all people. From our ancestors to our successors, they will all live in a utopia. One that is free of hatred, of poverty and despair. Every person who has ever lived and ever will reach their full potential._

"They openly speak as though they are improving humanity. They say they save lives. That they improve upon our own, but their ideology is flawed."

_Using these new tools, we will be able to shape this earth in a way that we never have been able to before. Not only can we create but we can now erase. We can fix our mistakes and make it so that they never even occurred._

"What they are essentially saying between the lines is that they are going to use the ISTAR machines to go to the past and alter history. It has always been IHS's dogma to do so as it is their belief that it is their job to say what is best for humanity. Not humanity itself to decide."

_Our organization has already begun operations. We have seized several ISTAR machines en route to be destroyed in the territory of Japan. The first steps have been taken in our glorious new order._

"This was the first time they were able to alter history, and is perhaps their last as far as I can tell. People didn't take them seriously at first, but it became apparent that they were a force to be reckoned with."

_We have already removed one of the plagues upon our world from the history books. Sources have confirmed that Alexander of Macedonia has been confirmed assassinated in Alexandria, Egypt. It was same Alexander that destroyed Persian and Egyptian societies and destroyed many of the world's Eurasian cultures. No more! History will forget him and we are history. We are the International Historical Society!. We are the guardians of the planet!_

By the end of his little speech, the man was practically red in the face and slamming his fist on the table for effect. The clip promptly ended after what seemed to be a complete loss of focus by the camera. Garrett hit a button in disgust promptly ending the segment for good.

"I think that is enough for one day. Don't you think?" Garrett half asked and knowing that what he had said would be hard to synthesize.

Alex was almost in shock, not shaking but really unable to understand what this guy was saying to him. Basically, that it was his job to prevent this renegade group from altering history. It sounded very dangerous and highly impossible.

Garrett put his hand on Alex's shoulder to try to comfort him. "Listen, we all have to go through this at some point. I know it's tough, but I know you can handle this. That is why I picked you. Try to get some sleep tonight and we can continue this tomorrow. Okay?"

"Okay." said Alex, barely above a whisper.

"Good, I'll hand you off to Claire so she can set up your own ISTAR, it's kind of like your own room with a bed and stuff where you can get some rest." replied Garrett, now walking off in his own direction.

Alex kept looking at the floor, not knowing how to react. How was he going to sleep in a computer simulation? He was very confused.

"You're the first person to last through the first day here. You should be proud of that." Garrett continued, as he walked through an invisible wall and then disappeared from sight and voice range.

Alex gave a weak smile to the ground, he was very worn out but at least he felt a sense of belonging. A feeling his life so dearly lacked.

"Yo!" said a voice, not in the room.

"Who said that?" asked Alex to a room of nothingness.

"It's Claire silly..."

"Well, where are you?"

"I'm in front of a computer in the lobby, where I usually am."

"Okay then."

"Yeah, it's where you'll usually hear me from. There has to be someone to stay behind while you guys run off into the past fighting the IHS and making sure the whole world is the same as it is today as it is tomorrow." she sighed.

"That was never part of the job description." replied Alex, jokingly.

"Very funny, now we have some serious business to go over. Firstly, you have to meet your new AI."

"It all worked out perfectly I take it."

"Ermmm... I've never used the 'Automatic' button before, so I guess this was going to happen..." she trailed off. "Anyways, you'll probably recognize her right away as she is from your own mind. I'm sending her in right away. Her name is Zeta by the way as it is her processor."

"This is going to be interesting." said Alex to himself. What would this person be, if she was from his own memory? She wouldn't have been human for sure. Claire wouldn't have reacted that way if she was.

He could hear footsteps approaching him from behind, until they stopped.

He turned around to see his company inside the computer system. It completely shocked him.

Standing right in front of him was a forgotten memory from his childhood. A fraction of what had been lost when his psyche had been smashed in half so many years before.

She was just like he could remember, that is if he was remembering right. She was definitely humanoid in shape, but had much paler skin. Almost solid white and wore even a more pure shade of white as a robe, covering her entire body. It gave an onlooker an illusion that she was floating on air as she walked.

Her wavy lime green hair flowed over her forehead in a triangular pattern, covering the direct centre of her face. On her face was a small smile, of human emotion. She was not some unsophisticated avatar, you could tell by her facial expression and her body language that she was almost if not as on par of Alex's own capabilities. Also on top of that she was stunningly beautiful.

"Hello Alex." said a silky voice, coming from Alex's newest partner.

That was a Looooooonnnnng chapter. I hope it was worth it and is hopefully at the same quality level now as In Ruin which I promise I will get back to shortly.

Anyways as a side note, I based the character of Garrett off of another song. I think thats allowed... Regardless, I thought of his character while listening to "From Yesterday" by 30 seconds to mars.

So next time, I promise some sort of action sequence (Gunfights, explosions and stuff like that). I want to make it more in tune with the music. So again, until next time...

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.


	3. Chapter 3: The IHS

_Two years in the future, yet seventy years in the past..._

It was very cold and damp. It was the below the temperature for that time of year in France. It probably was because global warming hadn't kicked in yet.

The op-clock said that it was approximately 7 o'clock August 23, 2012. That number was irrelevant, as it only stated what time it was for Claire on the other end of the communicator. In a more relevant sense it was around eight AM in the middle of March.

The only thing the operational clock did was let you know when you were due back. In reality, when you travelled to another point in history you could return whenever you wanted to. It didn't matter if you came back before, after or at the exact time you left. Doing this however would create many instances of yourself. To prevent this, regulations regarding the ISTARs were created. Many of which were created to prevent things like that from happening such as people cloning themselves, accidentally spawning into a solid object, et cetera.

For instance, the machines made it impossible to go back in time to a location that a previous numbered station had already visited. When a place like that was encountered, all that one saw was a rectangular, solid black form covering the entire area and allowing no one to see inside. This stopped people from going back to where someone was before and killing them, messing up the continuation of time. The IHS agreed with this as they didn't want us doing the same thing to them. Sometimes they did see sense, but most of the time they just acted like overzealous soldiers from the ideological fringe.

But even when the rules regarding the machines themselves ran out, there was still the overall structure of the UNSS that prevented any accidents. You see, the stations of the UNSS were split into three distinct groups: the ground workers (stations 1-308) which covered from around two thousand BC to around nineteen forty. They were meant to provide operatives on the ground, ready whenever they needed to be. They always kept track of IHS movements in their time sector, and provided logistical support for later stations whenever they were called in to clean up the IHS operatives that had managed to get their way into the past.

The second group, Stations 308 through 336 were often the most swamped stations. From around the end of World War 2 to the Foundation of the UNSS, they had the most responsibility when it came to travel. As the earlier stations needed assistance, they were most of the time called in. This was mostly due to the later stations already having their hands full gathering intelligence on what the IHS were planning to do, while trying to shut down their safe houses. Stations such as number 316 were contracted out whenever a lead was found to travel back to assist the time period's own operatives.

Every station past 336 was mainly focused on keeping the IHS in check when they originally existed, while sending orders to the various stations under them. No station employee clearly knew at what point the numbers went on to. It could have gone forever, as far as they could tell. It was another way of the UNSS preserving the illusion of linear time. The less a station knew about the upper stations the better was their motto. If there was too much information about the continuation of history floating about between the stations, they would be just as bad as the historical society. Plus the employees would know exactly what would happen to them in the future, altering their decisions. If an operative was to die, it was meant to be. Thus, time travel into the future was prohibited, as well as to any station within five numbers to your home station to avoid any of these problems.

However, traveling back nearly seventy years wasn't a problem. It was 1941, and the war was overshadowing its first instalment. France had already fallen to the Germans the previous year. They had already installed a new government in Southern France known as the Vichy. Universally hated, there was already a growing resistance to the collaborators. Led by Charles De Gaulle, they had already done serious damage to the German war machine. On this date, they would be able to inflict yet another blow to them.

Fate had other plans.

The free French forces were supposed to receive an airdrop of supplies including two dozen STEN guns and several pounds of explosives. It was meant to be a very simple operation. A small single engine British plane was supposed to airdrop the package into a field where operatives would secure the supplies and hand them over to French partisans. The explosives were bound for a military supply train headed for what would become the Eastern front and the weapons were supposed to help make sure that they did end up there.

In reality, the operation was called off. Reality, as in what happened originally and not what anyone had altered. There was a problem with the plane, there was no available pilot cleared for the operation and to top it off there was heavy fog over the area that night.

Alex could tell it was mainly the last reason why they called off the operation.

Regardless of why it was cancelled, the supply train continued on from France and into the front lines. With no way of stopping it, the partisans just let it pass. No one at that time knew its importance. People still do not, even the UNSS over a hundred years later. The Historical Society somehow did, and Station 316 was chartered to investigate what exactly their course of action would be in the matter. It of course meant going back to 1941.

Station 344 had uncovered an email sent to a known IHS safe house that they would be shipping operatives here, to the very same location the plane was supposed to drop the supplies. Apparently, the IHS members would pose as the SOE agents sent to retrieve the munitions and then deliver the weapons to the partisans. The supplies of course would be brought from the time period the operatives were sent from, so there were plenty of opportunities for them to cause some major damage to the course of weapons development during the 20th century. If one piece of equipment was off, there could be disastrous results.

There had to be something done about it.

"Can you see anything?" asked Alex after a while, breaking the silence.

"For the thousandth time, no." replied Garrett, sighing.

"Maybe if you shined a light over there, you could see something. If you don't all you are going to see is darkness." Marcel suggested, heavily accented.

"Then what, we get seen in the process?" Garrett replied, rhetorically. "What we need to do is wait for them to turn on their own flashlights, that way; we know where they are while they don't have a clue where we are."

The three of them had been hiding underneath an overhang, created by the snaking roots of a tree. It had managed to hide them for what was going on three hours, while giving them a vantage point of the field where the 'drop' was supposed to occur. In reality, they were watching for IHS members walking onto the field without ever even seeing an aircraft.

Marcel had scouted the location a week earlier when he first heard of the operatives from 316 coming and where. He was under the employee of Station 305, one of four on the planet at the time. As there was a lot going on at the time, the UNSS decided four was enough to cover the world. Marcel was part of the station responsible for Europe. It was a herculean task to say the least. The world wars were definitely the event in history most attempted to be changed by the Historical Society. They got it lucky by getting the station at a time where they weren't tied up with something else.

The operative was already tired of the job after only a year as an employee. Having to live each day, knowing you would have to gamble with your life takes its toll. Hey, it was better than being a resistance fighter. At least with the UNSS, he didn't have to worry about a place to live. Plus, he had access to all sorts of futuristic technology he could have only dreamed of as an engineering student before the war.

Soon, he hoped that the war would be over.

"We must have had a bad intercept." stated Garrett, citing the at times inaccurate intelligence gathered by the upper stations.

"Great." Marcel chided. "It would have been better if you had have noticed that an hour ago. What a great waste of a night."

"What were you going to do anyways? It's 1941 in France!" retorted Garrett, taking his eyes off of his pair of binoculars for a moment.

"Maybe not risk my life for a change." he said, now leaning back on the tree behind them and putting his hands behind him to rest his head.

Garrett refocused his gaze, fixating on the direct centre of the mowed field. "You might as well get used to it. It's going to be a long four years." he muttered under his breath, letting loose nearly twenty years of cynicism. He was not always this depressed, though sometimes it was brought up to the surface by the constant stress of his job.

Both Alex and Marcel decided by their own terms to ignore the comment, not wanting to be reminded of how dangerous their job actually was. Garrett had many more years of experience of having to deal with the unpleasantness of having to almost always be the bad guy. The UNSS almost always had to defend the worst of humanity while the IHS always went under the guise of helping the good. It was tough, but the job they did was vital.

Glancing at his mission clock, Alex found that they had already clocked five and a half hours at the site. They were supposed to cover the entire time the IHS had allotted for the handoff to take place. Claire said that the time period was only six hours, so they were coming to the end of the time slot and there was no sign of the enemy.

Garrett looked like he had no intentions of stopping before the time limit was officially reached, as soon as the second passed marking the end of the time period. Marcel on the other hand was already getting packed up to go. He took a cigarette out of his pocket and placed it in his mouth, looking for a match.

Alex quickly before he could light a flame snatched the thing out of his mouth.

"Hey, what was that for?" he asked, genuinely upset, yet still keeping his volume low.

"Those things cause cancer, just saving you the trouble." replied Alex, used to having to repeat the process for many people before the realization tobacco wasn't healthy.

"Yeah, says who?"

"The Surgeon General of the US says so, a decade or two from now. I guess you wouldn't know then." Alex explained.

"Of course I wouldn't know, it hasn't happened yet. Maybe you should join the Historical Society if you want to keep letting people in on these things." he retorted, extremely annoyed.

"Hey!"

"Can you two keep it down please? No one is joining the IHS, and yes Marcel the kid is right so can we just be quiet for one second? I think I can see something over there." interrupted Garrett, keeping his eyes fixed on the field.

Marcel almost automatically stopped himself from saying another sentence and pressed himself up against the embankment that was hiding the group of them. Alex followed suit, reluctantly. As soon as they were able to see out again, Garrett motioned his hand at a stream of light emanating from a source almost halfway across the open space in front of them.

It passed over most of the field, as if trying to find any interlopers in the area. It was most definitely the IHS. Who else would be out here at this time at night?

The three of them ducked as the flashlight illuminated the area directly behind them. Luckily, the beam didn't find any of the trio. Though, it did shine a light on the faces of the men who were holding the device by accident. One of them was carrying a sub machine gun that was definitely not from the time period, giving away their allegiance. The other was lifting a large wooden crate covered in a white sheet, further adding to the suspicions already associated with them.

"So what's our course of action boss?" whispered Marcel after a second of watching the light dance around the field.

"I think that it would be a good idea to try to detain them." replied Garrett, in command of the strike force. It was standard procedure to give these kinds of people a chance to surrender, that was until they showed signs of hostility then they could be designated as military targets. It was usually a good idea to bring them in alive though, as it looked better for the PR guys of the later stations if they looked better than their other time manipulating counterparts.

"So we just run up and arrest them?" asked Alex, sceptically.

"Most likely we will as they are surrounded by nothing but open space." explained Garrett to two very non-understanding faces. "Look," he continued, drawing his historically accurate Welrod pistol. "I have a plan. Someone comes with me, one of you stays here in case something goes wrong. We approach them, armed and then quickly seize the one that is unarmed and the other should follow suit and surrender. Piece of cake huh?"

"If you say so." Alex reluctantly agreed, exhaling.

"Now I need a volunteer."

Marcel immediately looked at me, indicating that he wasn't going to do it myself.

"Don't look at me." Alex said, pointing at himself.

Garrett rolled his eyes. "Well, if you aren't going to be mature about this, I'll just choose for myself. Marcel, you're with me and kid, you stay put."

"What?" retorted Marcel, in a hoarse whisper.

"You heard what I said, now follow me." replied Garrett, quickly before leaping over the embankment and drawing his gun.

Marcel shot Alex a look of anger, before performing the same manoeuvre over the tree and into the field behind his commander.

Alex watched as both of them disappear into the darkness ahead of him. At least it was someone else going and not him; this was always the most dangerous part of the op.

"Hey! Identifiez-vous!" shouted Marcel, at the two men now illuminating their cargo with their flashlight. It was a good idea to pose as French Resistance long enough to get closer to them.

The reaction was almost immediate, the light now circled the field, searching for what was the source of the voice. It met up with the pair a few feet from the source.

"Anglais Service Secret." the man carrying the box asked, placing down the package of supplies on the ground. His voice didn't sound like French was his first language. The guy with the rifle was keeping guard, keeping an eye on their new guests. He wasn't pointing it at them, but was looking weary of them. "Vous savez que serait-ce pas?"

"Parle vous anglais?" the man with the gun asked, looking at them quizzically as though he was expecting another person in their place. He didn't quite understand that he was right in being suspicious of the so-called resistance fighters. They kind of stood awkwardly for a second, as the pair reached the two of them. For a second the man's face told them that they were already found out.

"Oui." answered Garrett in the best French accent he could muster as he had been living long enough in Canada to know what he was asking and how to say it properly.

"Good then, shall we get down to business." One of the men asked, pulling the sheet off of the top of the box, revealing its contents. The UNSS agents gave a sigh of relief in their heads.

It was the same as what the intelligence had said. It was completely filled with World War 2-era weapons and explosives. STEN guns and dynamite almost made the wooden crate overflow.

"Everything you need, the automatic weapons and explosives." he said, pointing to the box. "It's all for your attack on the train I expect."

Garrett nodded slowly and looked over the goods as if to see if they were what he wanted. Almost as if he was browsing at a store and the salesman just suggested several different products. In reality, he was planning his next move.

"All you want, correct?"

Garrett kept staring for a few moments before forcefully removing his gaze to say what he needed to say. "Yes, it's all there but you say this is for an attack on the rail line?"

"Of course, wasn't that the plan? Headquarters said that they went over the plan with you. This is all for your operation." he said with a puzzled look.

"Well your right that HQ told us of your arrival. It's just probably our ideas of headquarters are different. Plus we don't have any intention of using those weapons. They seem too technologically advanced for us. Those haven't been invented yet, have they?" He explained, without having to say it directly to them that they were indeed members of the UNSS.

You could see the spirits of the men drop as soon as they heard this. The one with the gun raised it to chest height at one of the UNSS members.

"Not so fast." Garrett responded, pulling out his Welrod with Marcel following suit. The IHS member that was unarmed looked towards the box to retrieve one of the STEN guns but Marcel turned to face him and he immediately retreated to his original position. "I wouldn't move if I were you." he said.

"Exactly, we all know it is a criminal offence to resist arrest, so if you would be so kind as to put down your gun and come with us."

"Whatever for? What have we done wrong?" the society member asked, playing dumb.

"You know what you did."

"What, helping history along? Saving Lives? Everything we do makes it possible for history to happen easier. We don't destroy it. We don't destabilize the world, but instead make it better and easier for it to occur the way it does." It was another classic speech made by a trapped idealist.

"Look, I've had to explain this to too many people over the years so I am going to keep this simple; no matter what you do in the past no matter how small has catastrophic consequences. When you deliberately change an event, the effects can be worse."

"What could be worse than this war? There is no reason for people to die here! It amazes me that you people can't see that. The possible outcomes could never be worse than what is going on right now." he was growing increasingly agitated.

"Everything happens for a reason and when you change those reasons, you can change the event. The reason why people were so reluctant to use an atom bomb after world war two was because they say firsthand the damage it caused. Without that happening, a worse disaster could have happened killing even more people as countries would have been more willing to use them." replied Garrett, elaborating on what he said before.

The man was about to return a comment in response to such an attack on his ideology but caught himself, recognizing defeat. He looked at his feet with a look of anger.

"So now, we are going to arrest you for possessing these loaded weapons that would be used to alter the course of history. If you come without a fuss, I can assure that you will get a lighter sentence."

He stared at the floor for another second before looking up. "You say we have loaded weapons? Are you sure about that?"

"Yes, I am."

"Want to check?" he said, with pure hatred.

Alex was keeping a close watch on the altercation between the supposed SOE soldiers and the rest of his team. He thought it might have been a good idea for him to have gone with them. He could do nothing from where he was. He couldn't call for help as the only person who could assist him was over twenty kilometres away in Lyon's Station 305.

Claire was thousands of kilometres away and simultaneously over seventy years in the future, and by the time indicated on the mission clock, she was asleep. Alex sighed, hoping that they could make the arrest easily so they could get back as soon as they could. He still kept an eye on the team, even though he could not hear what they were saying. The flashlight flickered on and off a few times illuminating the team, then the IHS and then the package of goods a few times.

He knew Garrett had a way of getting people to calm down, even if he was a bit flustered all the time. It would only be a matter of time before they gave in, but something was awry. He could sense it, even though he couldn't hear a word.

That is when he heard the shots. Three of them in rapid succession, exploding out of the end of a fully automatic weapon. Alex could immediately tell that it was the IHS members that fired them, as they didn't really care about not causing cultural contamination. All UNSS weapons were silenced and correct to the time period. These sounded like something out of a science fiction novel.

He was about to report the incident back to his own station, but then again what good would that have done. Alex knew he had to act fast and intervene. There could still be a chance that one of them was still alive. Grabbing a spare Welrod, he dashed out to possibly save his team.

"What was that for? Are you mad?"

"Showing how someone can change history can sometimes be a little shall we say unpleasant. But sometimes it must be done to prove a point." he explained, venomously.

"The only thing you have done is reinforce the reasons why I hate you."

"But what could one life even mean in the context of human history. I have changed the past and probably nothing will ever change because of it." he said, with no remorse indicating the motionless body on the ground.

"I should just kill you while I have the chance."

"Exactly!" he shouted, raising a finger into the air showing that a brilliant idea just arose. "So many people feel that. When the people they care about die for no reason. For no reason!" he repeated, emphasizing his point and turning the conversation into a one sided rant. "Why can't we do this for everyone? Why mustn't the evil be punished? Why mustn't the good live in freedom and happiness? Don't you see that you stand for everything that is wrong with this world we live in?"

The surviving UNSS member remained silent, not answering the question. He was asking a ridiculous question. Of course it would be nice if nothing bad ever happened to humanity, but that along with the good shaped who we are. You had to defend both sides to make sure we as a species were left intact.

"So kill me. Change history. You know that you want to. Embrace what your conscious is telling you."

"No."

"Then there is no point in waiting here doing nothing."

Alex sprinted up to the place where the three men were standing. Without saying a word, they all stopped what they were doing. He took the opportunity to assess the situation. Marcel lay on the ground in a bloodied mess whilst Garrett stood at arm's length from the two impostors.

"Bringing a kid to a man's fight. That's really smart." said one of them, demeaning. The one without a gun moved to remove one from the basket, but stopped in his tracks when Garrett motioned his gun at him.

Alex just looked at both of them during this, trying to hide how scared he actually was. He was unable to say a word or move a muscle. Apparently everyone else was too, as no one spoke for several minutes.

"Okay." Garrett was the first one to talk. "Enough talk. I have been sent here to arrest the two of you and that is what I am going to do. So I will give you five seconds to drop your weapons and surrender yourself to the UN."

The one that was unarmed glanced to his partner as if to see what he was going to do and follow his lead. The other simply ignored him and looked at the two UNSS operatives confidently as if they were discussing a business deal.

"Fine, I guess I should accept defeat." he said slyly, dropping his weapon. "Take me into custody."

Garrett sighed. "Alex, you know what to do." Alex however wasn't paying attention, and was staring blankly into space, disconnected. "Alex!"

It took him a minute to snap his reality back into focus, as he was too traumatized by the whole experience. "Yes, I got it."

He took the standard plastic strap that was usually used to restrain the wrists of detainees. It could be loosened and then tightened around the criminal's wrists.

Garrett kept them both at bay while Alex approached the man who previously had the gun. Alex looked at his face to see if there was any emotion present in such a person. All that could be seen was a small amount of anticipation; however his eyes gave off an uneasy sense of him actually wanting Alex to continue.

Alex sighed and continued, not wanting to be bothered by the obviously unstable man. As he was about to tighten the handcuffs, the guy twisted his wrists to an almost impossible angle to grasp the smaller UNSS agent's wrists.

He let out a gasp as the IHS agent tightened his grip, not to the point of pain, but tight none the less.

Garrett took his Welrod and pointed it square at the man's face. "If you don't take your hands off of my..."

"Hold on," interrupted the man, in a cool voice. "I'm only saying goodbye" Both Garrett and Alex held a surprised look on their faces as the man gave a wink to his accomplice and continued to stand in the same position he had been standing since Alex had arrived on the scene.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"That is a question you should ask yourself, Garrett." he replied, sullen faced. This only made Garrett even more puzzled as to what the hell was going on.

"See ya." and with that, the man disappeared into the air, leaving Alex standing arms outstretched, a dead man on the ground and a box of illegal weapons.

The gravity of the situation hit Garrett really hard. What these two men had just done was possibly the worst crime that someone could commit with an ISTAR machine. They had overridden their machine's safeties and done something truly terrible. The IHS had crossed a line.

ISTARs, when they were invented were designed for scientific use and everything about them was designed for scientists and historians to use them while doing the least amount of damage to the cultures and natural life of the time period one would want to visit. For instance there were a whole bunch of rules that made it impossible to travel into the future and such and it compensated for the time you were away in the past by adding the time of when you were gone onto when you left. In other words, you returned to the present the amount of time you were in the machine on top of when you left.

One of the most sacred rules of the ISTAR protocol was the one that dealt with spawn points. With each station came a carbon generator. It was what allowed time travel to occur. Every time you travelled into the past, a duplicate of yourself was created out of pure carbon. Your consciousness was transferred into your new body by your own ISTAR machine while you stayed safe in your bulletproof case back home, however if your duplicate died before your consciousness was transferred back to your time period, you lost all brain function. Regardless these by undisclosed future scientific advances allowed this duplicate to appear anywhere on the globe. This is what UNSS agents to be anywhere on the globe at any given time.

The only catch was that you had to spawn at certain predetermined points, chosen as they were out of range of any human settlement. They were remote and constantly monitored for any chance of a person to be walking by the site. These sites were so rare that there was only on average one or two a country. For instance in France, it was located at Station 305 in downtown Lyons. It was not in the middle of an open field near a village where over a hundred people lived.

The IHS had broken this rule and modified their machines. It just showed how much they cared about altering history. They had clearly lost sight of what their mission was, however flawed. There was no set punishment as nothing like this had ever been attempted. This was beyond punishable. Doing something like this was dangerous to the entire human race.

All of this rushed through Garrett's head all at once as he slowly lowered himself to the ground. He put his head in his hands and remained silent for a few minutes. Alex looked over to his partner, frightened as a deer in the front of pair of headlights. He had never seen anything like this with the IHS, but what made him more stunned was seeing his partner in such a state. There was something much larger going on, he knew it. Alex knew he had seen much worse than this as he heard from stories that the previous orientations involved leaving recruits in a simulated concentration camp to make sure they were tough enough for the job.

Garrett had seen death before and knew he was almost to blame for it, the IHS never let you forget that and always rubbed it in every time they had an altercation with them. Always it was about being the 'cause' of the world's problems, how we were always the reason why people died, how they suffered and starved. We always had to play the bad guys and we had grown a thick skin to it.

It was really hard. Alex had the power in his reach to go back in time and advise Marcel to never join the UNSS, change history. But how would that effect history, everything had to happen. He would never change from being a lifeless body cradled in the arms of a fellow UNSS operative. It was times like these that really made him question his role with the UNSS, but that is just what the IHS wanted, right?

"Come on, we better get home before the Germans come and want to know where the gunfire came from." growled Garrett, in a tone barely above a whisper. It would be a long and painful trip back home, Alex was sure of it.

"Hi guys!" said a cheerful voice, a good alternative to the very depressed voice of Garrett for the past hour while they took Marcel's car back to Lyon. It had been raining and they were stopped no less than three times by German military police. It was good that none of them attempted to speak French to the two of them so they could just pretend they didn't understand a word they said.

However, that was in another time and in another body. Now it was around nine in the morning in the summer of 2012. Light shone in from the large picturesque windows overlooking downtown Vancouver. They hadn't told Claire yet about what had happened, as she had been sleeping through most of the encounter.

"So how'd it go?" she asked as they walked groggily out of their respective ISTAR machines. Alex immediately made a motion for her to stop talking immediately as to not put Garrett in a worse mood. She still continued, believing that she could mediate the situation.

"Bad, huh?"

"We lost an operative and the suspects escaped." Garrett bluntly stated, and continued to explain the whole scene to Claire, who listened as he sprawled himself over the couch in the front room. Claire was like a sister to both her male compatriots, even though Alex was much younger than she was and Garrett was much older. She was always tried to find the best in situations.

By the end, she was not able to say a word. Garrett was able to describe in such detail that Claire looked horrified, and probably felt similar. "Oh..." was all she could slowly say by the end of the monologue.

"Well, I'm going back into the ISTAR for a while." said Alex, wanting a respite from what had just transpired.

"I'll page you when breakfast is ready."

"Thank you." replied Alex, looking at his feet before entering the machine.

"Are you going to be alright?" Alex turned to face his friend. She gave a weak smile, empathetically. She really did care about him.

"I'll be fine. I just need some time to think." he looked back at her for a brief moment before climbing into the ISTAR. She nodded, fully aware of the psychological stresses of being a UNSS agent. After all, she had already been there eight years with Garrett and seen more than her fair share of new recruits having mental breakdowns.

The feeling of entering an ISTAR machine was often the hardest feeling that UNSS agents could describe. It was like being squeezed out of a mustard bottle, in the dark. It was very strange, but when you ended up on the other side and into the computer you felt completely fine.

You always ended up in the same spot, your home of sorts. It was a place that kept your mind occupied when you rested. It made you think you were sleeping in a bed when you were really propped up against a plastic wall in what looks like a washing machine. It provided you with a middle ground between the physical worlds of the present and the past, and directed you to where you needed to go via your AI.

Zeta was already there, almost magically appearing in front of Alex as he arrived. AIs of course didn't need to always graphically present within the simulation. They usually just were reabsorbed back into the mainframe, still as their separate identity but able to access more data.

"Hello." She said tentatively, almost gliding over to where Alex was.

"Hi Zeta."

"Back so soon?"

"Yes, I just need some time alone." he replied, bluntly before sitting down on the side of his bed.

"For a second, I almost thought you were going to tell me what happened." she said, meekly, citing the fact that when Alex arrived earlier, he automatically left without saying anything. He still said nothing.

"Zeta, can you please just disappear for a bit." He said, with his head hung low, looking at the floor.

She automatically took this as an affront to her, but she couldn't let that get in the way of helping the person she was assigned to. She had to find out what was bothering him. Perhaps if she made him feel better...

Zeta sat down abreast of Alex on the bed and put her arm around his shoulder and held on.

"Persistent aren't you?" he commented, taking his head and bringing it up to her level. She still was looking right at him with a look of concern on her face. Her beautiful red eyes looked deeper into his soul than anyone else he had ever known. She could read his emotions like a book.

"It's my job, isn't it?" she admitted, smiling hopefully at him hoping that he would come out of his shell.

In a split second he wrapped her in his arms, embracing her the way she wanted him to do from the start. She smiled even more; there was not anything as satisfying as this. He was the whole reason for her existence, and she loved being it.

"Zeta, I'm..." he started, almost crying into her shoulder trying to apologize.

"It's okay, just rest." she said. "You don't have to apologize, I know it's hard."

"That's no excuse for me talking to you like that."

"I already have forgiven you. I can't get mad at you, no matter what." She said, kissing his forehead softly.

They held each other for what seemed to be like a few moments, but you couldn't really have any concept of time in a machine like this. Neither of them cared.

Eventually, a voice over what would normally be a loudspeaker system interrupted them. Alex figured it was for breakfast and he would have to leave, however something just wasn't right.

"Alex?" shouted a voice, obviously in a distressed position. It was Claire alright, but something told Alex that she wasn't calling him for breakfast. Something was awry. "Alex, are you there?"

"Yes Claire, what's the matter?" Alex replied, moving away from Zeta for a second and standing up to receive the communiqué.

"Oh... Alex..."

"Claire!" he was now genuinely concerned at this point and was trying to keep calm.

"Alex, you have to come out... They..." her voice was clearly being interrupted.

"What's going on? Are you okay?" his voice was rising to try and get through the static.

"Just come out here." she said coldly.

"Claire?" There was no answer. He tried using the manual override she had taught him to get through but to no avail. No one was going to answer him. He took a seat near Zeta again, trying to figure out what he would do next.

"I think you should better go out and see what she needs." whispered Zeta into his ear. Alex nodded, in agreement. He figured that out right away, but what was he going to be needed for on the other side? Hopefully Claire and Garrett were alright.

"I'll come back as soon as I can." said Alex very finally.

"I'll be waiting for you, as always."

"I know; that's why I love you." he said, kissing her on the cheek, before leaping up very suddenly. "Computer: terminate LAN sequence." he continued, speaking to the mainframe and not Zeta.

The room flickered in his vision like a bad television signal and disappeared into an empty blackness as he was forcefully pushed from his room into the real world and into where he was needed. Meanwhile somewhere, in the archives of the computer mainframe Zeta was quietly contemplating her encounter with her partner. "Had he really said that... and kissed me?" she thought to herself blissfully.

The small compartment flooded his vision suddenly replacing the bed with a small chair and stand that connected to the glove on his hand. He felt a new sense of energy, feeling better about himself and was in a positive mood. It was a complete change from his previous melancholy depression. Zeta always had that effect on him, as she should. She was scientifically his perfect partner.

Slowly, he regained the use of his nervous system and got up from the chair bracing himself against the sides of the chamber. He cautiously opened the door to peer down the hall.

"Don't move a muscle." Came a familiar voice. A strong hand grabbed Alex's wrist in a similar fashion to when the IHS agent did the day before. "I'll be taking this back, thank you very much." he said with sarcasm, suddenly pinching down on his forearm. A pain shot into Alex's wrists like a wasp sting, as the man tightened his grip. He could feel something move under his skin before it burst through his skin with an audible sound. The agony was intense.

"GPS tracking technology: the size of a grain of rice and able to be implanted without the subject knowing." He explained, holding up a red stick of metal between two of his fingers while finally letting go of the boy. He then proceeded to take out a silenced pistol from his pocket. "Now I suggest you come with me, you wouldn't want to keep the rest of your team waiting. Wouldn't you?"

Alex now realized the gravity of the situation. The IHS now knew of the whereabouts of Station 316. Everything around him was now in jeopardy, and more than likely they would have to relocate.

"Have a seat." the man said venomously, motioning for the couch where Claire was already seated and where Garrett was already standing beside. Alex obeyed, not wanting to find out the consequences.

Claire shot Alex a scared look as if to ask why this was happening. Alex couldn't do anything than give a small shrug, small enough not to be noticed by their captor.

"Now why are you here? Please explain yourself." stated Garrett forcefully.

"My my Garrett, that's no way to treat a guest in your Station. Aren't you supposed to be representing the UN while I'm in here?"

Garrett simply stared daggers at him, repeating his line.

"Okay, skip the pleasantries. Hell if I care, it's you're time." he replied, shuffling his feet a bit and overlooking the setup they had, as if he was reminiscing. "First order of business, Garrett step forward please." he said coldly.

"What..."

His voice was met with two shots from the gun, directed right at him. Garrett slumped to the floor, not moving. Alex couldn't believe his eyes, his mentor and friend now lay at his feet. He wanted to rush over to him and help him, aid him to save him but he knew that he would be shot too. He had to play his cards right.

The man lowered his gun, emotionless. He stared at the man on the floor with disgust before turning to the two survivors in the room. Alex hated him so much.

"Now..." he began, turning to Claire. She let out a small gasp, in surprise. Tears were now running down her face. Alex could take no more.

Leaping from his seat, he tackled the IHS insurgent, bringing him to the floor alongside Garrett dropping his gun. They struggled for a minute, wrestling for dominance. One minute Alex would have him pinned but he would somehow find a way to throw him off.

He landed a punch on the guys face, breaking his nose and making blood run down his cheek. Boy, did that feel good. He collapsed to the floor, clutching his face. Alex used the opportunity to tackle him a second time and this time truly push him to the ground and put his elbow over his neck, making him stop the struggle.

"Stop, stop." he choked.

"Why should I? You didn't! Two people are dead because of you!"

"Everything happens for a reason." he managed to say, sarcastically quoting the UNSS mantra.

"Shut up, no more funny answers." said Alex, now yelling at the man only inches away from his face.

"Okay then, calm down. I've just been sent to deliver a message."

"And what message is that, you worm?"

He chuckled, in a very disturbing way. "I've been sent to tell you that you have twenty four hours to join the Historical Society."

"Like hell we won't." Alex almost was laughing at this point if the situation was any less serious.

"Then you will both die, like your compatriot who didn't listen."

"The only here going to die is you." said a voice from behind the two of them. It was Claire, now holding the silenced revolver the man was carrying. She was aiming it directly at him with a grimace on her face.

She pulled the trigger, hoping to find her target. The bullets sped out of the chamber at supersonic speed racing towards her attacker.

They met nothing more than air and vinyl. She stood there for a second, contemplating what had just happened, for the second time that day she was scared out of her wits.

The man had disappeared, leaving Alex on the ground clutching onto nothing.

Alex looked up to Claire, who like her fellow agent knew that nothing was going to be the same.

Wow, I guess I should get used to writing 7000 word chapters from now on. Sorry if this seems rushed, I've just gotten over the flu, so I haven't had much time to write so...

Anyways, I just want to say thanks to all you who have been reviewing, especially to Sub-Human, Barnzulla and UBE Chief (By the way, thanks for correcting me). Reviews always make my day and always remind me of why I should be writing in the first place. Thanks guys!

Now, I'm just going to say now that there is only going to be one more chapter to this story as I want to end it before June 15th (contest date for those on ). I promise a follow-up series that will continue with most of the same characters.

So until the next chapter...

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

PS, I managed to write the french section from the french I picked up from listening to marie mai and reading the back of cereal boxes (fellow canucks will know what I mean) ;)


	4. Chapter 4: The Escape

Garrett was gone. Not in the sense that he was dead, but physically gone from the scene of the crime. Both UNSS agents could only guess at his whereabouts, as he had not left the area under his own power. The man from the IHS obviously had something to do with it, but that didn't calm either of them down.

"He must be dead, I just know it."

"Please don't say that." Alex replied, rising to his feet. "We don't know for sure." he put his arm over his teammate's shoulder. "When have we ever given up?" he asked rhetorically trying to raise her spirits.

"Yeah, I know." she said, lowering her gaze slightly as if to find something hidden the recesses of her brain. "It's just that nothing has ever hit this close to home."

Alex was about to say something in return, possibly something that would have had the soothing effect but she quickly pulled away from him walking down the hall down to the storage area behind the ISTARs. Claire wasn't the type to be easily stressed, but when something bothered her she just wanted to be left alone. Saying another word at this point would have been useless.

However this time, she came back with something. Like most times, it was contained in an unmarked cardboard box. It much larger than the one containing the medical equipment that she used on Alex the first day he arrived at Station Three-Hundred and Sixteen.

"What's all this for?" he asked, pointing to the box half-heartedly.

"What do you think it is?" she asked, not wanting an answer. "Didn't Garrett ever go over what we are supposed to do if something like this happens?" she asked, maliciously sarcastic.

"No actually." Alex answered truthfully, without any added emotion.

"I guess he didn't as he didn't have the chance to."

"So please enlighten me about what we are to do." he implored, almost sarcastic himself.

She sighed. "We are literally going to blow this place to bits with heavy explosives. C4, et cetera."

"Yet, we are supposed to make this look like an accident and make sure it doesn't bring down the building."

"Correct, by placing it in specific places, the entire top floor can be blasted off without creating too much structural damage, plus using the building's original design we can make it so that all of the debris is scattered in the nearby streets and avenues." she continued, as if reading from a protocol handbook.

"Got it."

"Good, now start by placing this stuff in every corner of the room." she stated, before reaching down and taking some of the material out to start herself.

Alex just watched as she quickly went off to the other side of the room to start preparing the area for demolition. Trudging as if her entire life was over and she was just in the process of accepting that.

"Hey." Alex interrupted her march off to the other side of the station. She turned around, wide eyed and holding back tears. He didn't know what to say for a second, wanting to somehow cheer her up yet doing so would be impossible at this point. He had to say something, at least something to show that he cared. "I know we'll find him somewhere. I promise." he said, referring to Garrett.

Claire didn't say a word, but simply nodded quickly and turned her back on Alex. "What else could I say?" he thought to himself, but he quickly realized that nothing could soothe someone for what they had to do. He was feeling the same way, this after all had been his home for two years already. The first time since he could remember he had actual family, a home and people who looked out for him. He knew Claire had been there even longer than he was, and was probably way more attached to it than he was.

He thought this, as he placed the plastic explosives in every crevice of the room, lining it with the power to send it into the street below. Perhaps in an hour or two, it would be gone. All the memories they had and shared shattered.

Wires led from each deposit of the substance, and eventually led to a mutual transponder. A signal sent over the radio waves could be sent once they had cleared out of the office. It would then send an electrical pulse from the box and into each of the packages of explosives, igniting them instantly.

Alex tried not to think of this as him directly causing the destruction of his home but just as another task that he had to complete. It helped him get through endless missions of having to preserve the set events that occurred throughout the thousands of years of human history. Everything: from the destruction of priceless testaments to humanity, to allowing the death of people by natural disaster to allowing murder. He watched as Rome burned, Hiroshima imploded and San Francisco slid into the earth. As a human it was hard to acknowledge that these things were necessary or had to be preserved. However, when given enough thought it made sense to him. That's what kept him in the UNSS and not in the IHS.

The same principal applied when he was preparing the station for its imminent destruction. Was it easy? Was it what either Alex or Claire wanted? Of course not, but it was something that had to be done. Just like every day and every mission. Today was no exception.

The weak points in the walls were now almost all filled with the colourless substance that would later destroy them in both Alex's and Claire's halves of the room. Now they just had to connect both sides by wire to one major transponder that would set off the smaller ones and make sure that all of the explosives went off at once to create the controlled blast that they needed to not bring down the entire office building.

Doing so however meant having to face Claire again, having to deal with her melancholy state after losing Garrett to a semi-automatic pistol. Again, what was he supposed to say to her?

"So, what are we going to do about these ISTAR machines?" asked Alex, trying to make some sort of conversation without mentioning Garrett or what happened earlier that morning. "They will not be destroyed by the blast." He walked over to the middle of the central hallway with a spool of wires in hand to meet up with his counterpart.

"I've already taken care of that Alex, they've been filled to the top with C4." she said, with confidence already taking the wires out of Alex's hand and attaching them to the device she was holding in her hand. He simply watched as she twisted them into a strand to wrap around the knob that controlled the flow of electricity from the AC outlet in the wall into the various globs of the malleable plastic explosives.

His mind flowed over all of the possible consequences of their actions. What if the detonation was botched? The entire building could be destroyed if one little piece of explosives was placed incorrectly. The people who created the station obviously thought of these things when they chose this location for it.

Most stations eventually met premature ends, usually with the loss of its employees before they all retired. It was of course a dangerous job. Also, at the end of each station's lifespan it had to be dismantled piece by piece as to not cause any cultural contamination with the local populace. It would not have been good if for example station 216's ISTAR equipment fell into the hands of Napoleon back when it was located in 19th century France.

So from past mistakes, all stations had protocol for almost every situation. This was a case where their plan of action was right out of the textbook. A breach of security that large with and IHS member involved was a good enough cause to liquidate station 316. The station after it was destroyed would cease to exist and its employees would either have to get on with their lives or if the people at the UN deemed it so, had to help form a new station to take its place. This didn't always happen though, like when the UN decided to downsize from five stations in World War 2 down to only two in 1947.

"I'm sorry if I seem agitated right now Alex, it's not because of you or because of Garrett. It's just really stressful to get fifty pounds of this stuff correctly wired." she said paying more attention to the wire she was threading through the machine.

"But you do know that all of what we already have is safe right? By safe I don't mean that it won't explode, but safe enough to get away from it before it explodes."

"Of course I do." she replied, sternly. "That's how I got this job you know."

"But I thought you came here when you were ten."

"I did." she replied with a small smile gracing her face. Alex looked confused for a second, as she continued her work. "It's actually a really long story that I will have to tell you some other time." she explained. "I have a lot on my plate right now."

"Okay then." replied Alex, sceptically as Claire walked past him. She was careful not to trip over the chords that ran between the explosives; one misstep could cause a disaster beyond any meaningful scale. Alex realized this and quickly and carefully followed her.

"So, what are we doing now?" he asked. Claire was now seated behind her very complicated mess of computer equipment that surrounded a widescreen computer monitor.

"Ah, right now?" she implored, now pressing a plethora of different power switches and buttons. Alex nodded, watching the black and white screen flicker into life. "Right now, I am deleting..."

DEL

DEL_FIND?

DEL(sitpro_2)

DEL_ALL?

DEL

DELETING ALL FILES:

PROGRESS 0.1%

"Well that should be done in an hour or two." stated Claire, reclining in her large executive chair.

Alex nodded, knowing all too well that these measures had to be taken. He leant against the wall, avoiding the equipment directly across from him. He was about to relax or perhaps talk to Claire when a horrible thought ran across his mind all of a sudden.

"Wait, Claire!" She nearly fell out of her chair when he heard her fellow agent react so suddenly to what looked upon the surface as a normal event. It was just a computer network after all.

"What is it? You've frightened me half to death Alex!" she caught her breath before sitting back up in her chair. Alex didn't let up from his tirade.

"Stop this please, right now." he said, pointing to the screen with almost a look of terror on his face.

Claire gave him a strange look and obeyed him without question. Perhaps there was something that she forgot. It was a common thought when there were so much deadly substances around you. UNSS agents had this sort of built in sense of trust that evolved from being in life-threatening situations.

CNCL

CNCL?

(sequence_1)

SEQUENCE_1(del_all) CANCELLED

SEQUENCE_1 PROGRESS:

0.6 % COMPLETE

"Now will you mind explain what you are doing?" She asked. "This better be good."

"Wait a second." he interrupted. "What exactly are you deleting right now?"

"Maybe that was a good thing to ask before I started." she indicated, before opening a separate window.

"I didn't realize what you exactly were doing until after you started. I didn't know what you were going to be deleting."

"Well, there would have been no point in deleting only some of our files. I had to delete them all, right?" she rhetorically asked. "We have to purge all of our systems to reduce the risk of anyone finding the hard drives and causing the world's technology to develop faster than it should."

"I completely realize that." agreed Alex. "Is there any way that you can save any files?"

"There could be." she pondered. "It depends on the size and what you want to transfer. It would have to fit on a flash drive."

"Can I just see what you have deleted so far as to not get my hopes up?" he implored, trying not to keep his emotions from getting the best of him.

"Okay, hold on a second."

SHOW RCYBIN(recent)

SHOWING(total-59mb):

STOREMNFST-(36mb)

DSG096897-(7mb)

SVdest(Ja-Au)- (16mb)

Alex breathed a sigh of relief at the news.

"Just a whole bunch of random files, mostly lists, manifests and just some random snippets of files used the last time you guys made the trip back to France." Alex just stared at the files, knowing what each did. All were not what he was looking for. That was a good sign. "Now, you can explain yourself." she stated, wanting an answer from Alex. "You better explain yourself well."

"I was just wondering what you were doing with the AI files."

"Well, I never bothered getting an AI for all the times I ever used the ISTAR machines." she started. "Garrett terminated his a year before you came here. He said something about it becoming too attached to him. The upper stations didn't send a replacement." That was something Alex knew all too well, except in his case the feeling was mutual. "Yours..." she started before going quiet. "I don't know how to say this, but I have to delete all the files on the Zeta chip and then smash it in half to prevent..."

"...Cultural contamination." Alex ended the sentence for Claire. "I know that, but is there any way we can save those files?"

"You aren't suggesting that I save your AI are you?" she asked.

"Actually, I am." he stated, dead serious.

"You really are attached to your AI?" Alex nodded vigorously at this. "I'm afraid that there is nothing I can do. The files for an AI take up so much memory it's ridiculous. There's a reason why we don't have these programs right now. The capacity can't even be comprehended by computer companies."

"So what are we going to do about this?"

"What I just said, we're going to delete the files and smash the chip to particles."

"You can't do that!" Alex exclaimed.

Claire looked at her hands for a few seconds, as if to ponder what to say next to Alex to try to calm him down. "Alex, I'm sorry if you're attached to your AI but there is just nothing I can do. They are designated as expendable. They are simply computer programs."

"They can't possibly be just computer programs." Alex retorted. "I know Zeta can think just like you or I can. She can have emotions. She is a sentient being. You can't just kill her. It would be like murder."

"We've both been responsible for more deaths than just one person Alex. Face it. It's something that must be done. I can't physically remove the Zeta chip nor download its contents."

"You sound like an IHS member!" said Alex, now turning belligerent.

"You sound like you're crazy! It's a freaking computer chip. It's not real."

"She's perfectly real. You wouldn't know! How can you say that?" he was now declining further and further into utter nonsense. He was almost in tears. It was like losing his parents all over again, only this time he was old enough to understand what was going on. "Isn't there anything at all you can do?" he said, hopeless.

Claire looked up at him, knowing all too well the pain of losing someone you love. She tried to find some way to make him feel better, but there was no easy or nice way to explain what she had to do. She had to end the life of something, something that could think, speak and have a conscious.

That's when it came over her in an instant

"Alex, there is one way. It's never been done and I don't know if it's possible." she said slowly.

"I'm listening." he said, wiping his face.

"I don't want to know of how many protocols I am breaking or how much I could get in trouble with the UN as its technically cultural contamination." she began, capturing the attention of Alex now looking somewhat hopeful.

"I still haven't filled the carbon generator yet with C4, which is good. Plus, we have enough carbon still in the system to be able to generate one last person from another station. However, I'm not planning on regenerating a person."

"I think I know where you are going with this." replied Alex as he smiled a little.

"Now, don't get your hopes up. I don't know if it can even be done. Regardless, as you probably already have guessed, I can try to transfer Zeta into a physical form. It's kind of how we create surrogates of UNSS personnel using the ISTARs. I don't know how many rules I must be breaking if I go ahead with this though." she admitted, opening up another window on the aesthetically old computer screen.

OPEN_AI(zeta)

ZETA(AICHIP)_[activated JULY 9 2010 15:47]

produced by kagosima heavy industries, japan 2088

model#-MC8302874

OPEN(filelist)

CURRENT FILES FOR ZETA AI CHIP

"I can't believe I am doing this." thought Claire to herself as the list of all of the AI's internal memory flooded the screen with everything from physical appearance to reasoning software and speech synchronization. This was really not a good thing to be doing, but no one was going to stop her. She looked up at Alex who was now fixated on the screen and was leaning on the back of her chair. After seeing his face of optimism, Claire knew that there was no turning back.

The list tapered off after listing each and every single file on the mainframe that comprised of Zeta's soul.

FILES TOTAL 4.5 PETABYTES

defrost_subject(zeta2)

ERROR-#295 [selected variable is unspecified. please specify a variable]

DESIGNATE(AI-zeta)_as_(zeta2)

defrost_subject(zeta2)

ERROR -#310 [selected variable is not within designated parameters of the selected command. please select one within the parameters of the command given]

It was asking for a human UNSS member instead of the computer program she was trying to "defrost" from the ISTAR machine. Luckily she knew the computer better than it knew itself.

OVERRIDE(398183)

OVERRIDE ACCEPTED

defrost_subject(zeta2)

WAITING...

OVERRIDE(489193)

DEFROST_subject(zeta2)_seconded

DEFROST T-MINUS 15 seconds

DEL_(sitpro2)

DEL_ALL?

DEL

DEFROST PROGRESS 43%

DELETE PROGRESS 0.2%

Claire sighed and eased into the back of her chair, not fully realizing what she had just done. She had done what so many over the years had tried and failed to do. She had created synthetic life and did so with little effort.

"So what now?" Asked Alex, tentatively.

"Right now, the computer is creating an original copy of Zeta within the Carbon Generator, instead of defrosting straight from the ISTAR. As I've said, it's never been done before and I don't know if it's going to work anyways. There's blocks in place to prevent people from doing this on here so it might turn out badly." she was cut out very rapidly by a message on the computer, preventing her from continuing to explain the complexities of the process.

DEFROST COMPLETE

"But I shouldn't keep you, you should check on her to see if anything went wrong." she continued.

"Right." Alex replied in quick succession, swiftly breaking his dead eye focus on the computer and sprinting off across the room nearly flying over the various cords on the floor. "Thanks so much Claire!" he half shouted to Claire as he changed directions down the hall to the carbon generator.

"No problem." she said to herself, though a little quieter than he. She wore a smile as if to hint that she herself knew about the two of them a little more than either of them knew, although neither of them ever said anything to her or even to each other to indicate the relationship that both of them yearned to be in.

The doors opened to the carbon generator, like most times that it opened for other UNSS personnel 'arriving' from the upper stations. A hiss of steam escaped from the cylinder as it opened its doors. The clouded glass parted to reveal a newly reincarnated Zeta, complete in all senses save the fact that her frame was now structured to withstand the stresses of the pressure of the atmosphere. She was no longer literally floating in the air, but rather walking with the precision of a human.

Everything else however was exactly the same as when Alex left the confines of the ISTAR machine earlier in the day. Her features were so perfect, it was as if the machine's generated world had merged and it was not a real person Alex was looking at but rather an illusion.

Zeta looked at him for a moment in disbelief of what she was seeing. She rubbed her eyes, not in an attempt to show her mistrust of what she was viewing with them but rather because they had just been in use for the first time, but more likely a little of both.

"Is that you Alex?" she asked in a quiet voice, barely above a whisper. The small sentence tested her new vocal chords to see if they were working.

"Yes it is, Zeta." he said in a small voice, almost speechless from hearing her voice outside the ISTAR for the first time. It lost its metallic quality, gaining a human quality not unlike his own. Alex tried to smile but couldn't, the feeling of seeing her in person was the most powerful paralyser that could ever be used upon him. The effect on his partner was similar.

She started to move towards Alex, a look of pure amazement on her face, only to stumble on the first step over the threshold of the generator. Alex rushed out to steady her before she could fall over her new feet. "Got you" he assured.

"Thank-you" she said simply, over Alex's shoulder as he brought her up to standing height again. "Sorry, I don't know what's come over me. It's like I've never walked before."

"Well, you haven't really." Alex elaborated, now helping Zeta to a near steady standing position. She was still shaking at the knees.

"What do you mean by that?" she looked puzzled, as she thought that he had asked a ridiculous question. "I've never had a problem keeping steady before, it's just my legs they feel as though they have never been used before."

Alex worked hard to suppress a laugh. "They feel that way because you have never used them before."

"Again, you're not quite making sense Alex." she said, equally confused as she was before Alex made the statement.

"Maybe I should start from the beginning." he said, explaining what had happened the day before, including the altercation between Garrett and the unknown assassin, the protocol involving the destruction of Station 316 and the protocol involving the clearing of all data stored in the ISTAR machines. Zeta remained very attentive during the entire story as if to garner some sort of way to explain where she was right now.

"So why aren't I deleted right now?" she asked, now standing on steady feet, her muscles now used to the strain. "I hope you didn't come in here to say goodbye to me." she said, almost frightened by the thought.

"No, I couldn't let that happen to you." he assured her. "I was able to do something instead of that. I..." he stopped himself for a moment. "Actually it was Claire who did it, but we were able to use the Carbon generator to shall we say create a more permanent version of you that isn't tethered to a particular mainframe or computer chip."

"Then it's no wonder why I can't stand properly, I'm not supposed to stand underneath one ATM of pressure. I'm built to float, not stumble around like you guys, not to say you aren't coordinated in your attempts to walk."

"I can walk perfectly well without any assistance from sort of anti-gravity field, just to let you know." replied Alex both light-hearted and sarcastic. "Besides, we altered your form a bit to allow you to be able to support yourself."

"I kind of figured that," she pointed out, looking down to her newly enhanced muscle structure before changing the subject. "So, I take it this is the station you have always talked about?" she asked, as if almost knowing the answer. She looked around the room surveying the C4 packages. "If it is, it looks exactly as you have described, minus the explosive."

"Yep, this is the one and only Station 316, in all of its pre-detonation glory. It's too bad you have to see it like this. Showing you this place earlier would have been nice." he admitted, indicating the scant wires and detonator boxes. They made the place look bleak and lifeless, even though they were just bundles of wires and plastic.

"But then I couldn't have been your AI, would I? Who else other than I would have been there to help you?" she asked, slyly with a smile with an almost vulpine quality to it. She was advancing on where he was, now inches away from him. "Who would have been there to soothe you and to make sure you were always cheerful?" she implored.

"I guess we have to do that for each other now." He stuttered, not at ease with the situation or how close she was getting to him. "You might as well be a fellow UNSS agent to me. Well, that is what I hope after all, we are breaking a lot of protocol right now just having you here. There might not be another station that will take us in."

"But I am content with you no matter where we end up." she told him, inching closer now almost nose to nose with Alex.

"Alex! I've just finished the delete sequence." came a voice adjacent to the pair. The sudden outburst without any sort of forewarning almost made Zeta jump, clearly startling her and making her move a distance away from Alex.

Claire and Zeta stared at each other for a few seconds, trying to judge each other's personality by a first glance. "I see the procedure worked I take it." Claire finally indicated, talking to Alex. Her eyes never left their target.

"Oh, where are my manners. I believe this would be a good time to introduce myself, I'm Zeta." she held out her arm for her compatriot to shake. Claire meekly took the hand in hers in the fashion that most people would greet someone

"Nice to meet you." squeaked Claire. She shook her head to alleviate herself from the disbelief that she was experiencing. "Sorry about that, I've just never seen anything like you in my life and today was the first time I think ever that anyone has just been created from a machine." she trailed on, still overwhelmed from the experience. "But regardless..." she said, taking control of herself and of the situation.

"Orders to vacate I presume?" asked Alex, now citing the fact that Claire was now his CO in the absence of Garrett.

"Exactly." she affirmed, continuing as if making war plans on an invisible map. "We all know we have to get the hell out of here as soon as we can right?" The other two nodded. "Also, we know that the IHS has been steadily sending operatives to keep a watch on us since this morning." Zeta and Alex's expressions changed in an instant to being puzzled.

"Really? I didn't think they would do something like that. Have you seen them?" asked Alex, sceptically.

"Yes, I also thought they were just making empty promises, but the security tapes don't lie and they clearly show a steady stream of black vans pulling up to the front of the building. I wasn't just killing time waiting for the system to purge itself you know." she elaborated. "Now, I've already called a taxi to pick us up from the street to the rear left of the building, but to reach that point, we need a plan which I already have a rough draft of."

"And that is..." Alex led on.

"Getting out of the elevator and just booking it out the service doors."

"Very original." added Zeta, rolling her eyes.

"I don't see you suggesting anything." retorted Claire, not exactly angered but more just to state a fact. Zeta remained silent, averting her gaze until Claire continued. "Anyways, the taxi will arrive hopefully twenty minutes and will wait for no more than five minutes so we have to act fast. Alex, I need you to get some stuff ready and prepare dinner."

"Great, I feel as though I haven't eaten anything for weeks." replied Zeta, now intently listening.

"More like anything at all, ever." answered Claire jokingly. "We don't need you passing out while we are running from armed men. It probably wouldn't increase our chances of escaping. Plus, your robe may not be the best thing to run in, as well as being not generally the thing you would normally wear outside."

"Are you saying this isn't fashionable?" Zeta asked, running her hands through the fabric that always coated her.

"I can answer that in one word: No." replied Claire, sniggering. Zeta looked confused at the remark, as she hadn't really been exposed to many cultural customs of the current age. Claire wasn't a complete jerk, saw this and added "Come on, you can borrow some of my clothes while Alex gets everything ready, won't you Alex?" he nodded. "Good, so while you're making dinner get out a box from storage, box number SA-67, I believe. Get out its contents and make sure they all work."

"Yes ma'am." Alex replied, mimicking a soldier referring to their superior officer.

"Now don't start calling me that now!" she replied, but Alex had already turned the corner and entered the storage area, quietly laughing to himself the way Claire often would about Garrett.

There were two things he needed: One easy meal and one storage box. These boxes could be likened to the ones used by the U-Haul company. All were marked by a simple four digit barcode that was kept on the mainframe for simple organizing. For instance all foodstuffs were marked HC-XX. So Alex grabbed among the metal wires and C4 a box marked as such and held it under one arm.

Now what SA stood for was a mystery, however if Claire needed it then Claire needed it so he didn't question the request. The box was hidden among the back of the store, covered in dust and obviously never disturbed from its spot on a middle shelf against the wall. It was roughly the size of a microwave, yet weighed much less. Now unable to carry anything else in both hands, Alex made his way back to the dining room and put both boxes down onto the table.

The "Human Consumption #34" box contained a serving of food enough for three people, the normal amount of people within Station 316. It was some microwavable Chinese food in one large plastic container in which you could just stick in and cook. Not exactly appetizing, but by the time the UNSS was founded a hundred years from then, they had made it possible for food cooked in the microwave to have the same composition of regular food and have the same nutritional value as prepared food. This was a great example of why the station along with all of its contents needed to be obliterated. If some person got a hold of this stuff, they could speed up the time it took to invent it drastically changing the course of history, no matter how small.

Not really thinking about that, Alex shoved it into the microwave and typed in the prescribed four minutes of time it usually took to thoroughly cook the food.

"I really wonder if my last meal will be some reheated packaged food." he thought to himself, letting his mind slip away from the task at hand. He quickly erased those ideas and returned to the present, there was no sense in dwelling on things that may not be able to be changed. The only thing one could do was hope for the best.

To get his mind off of the thought, he quickly moved away from the microwave and inched closer to the box with the unknown prefix. He still didn't have a clue what Claire could possibly want. To investigate, he rapidly opened the box to find what was inside. Immediately after doing so, he questioned himself why he didn't realize what was in it sooner. He was trained to attempt to accurately guess these types of things.

The manifest on the inside of the box designated the container as "Side-Arms #67". Suddenly he felt as though the escape they were going to attempt would be much easier. Even though he didn't want to use the weapons, they could be used to get out of situations very easily.

Inside was three X26s, emblazoned with the logo of Tazer International.

"Just like the upper stations to do something like this." thought Alex, alluding to how they often gave them equipment exactly matching to the time period and usually equipment that didn't leave much of a trace of its use.

He placed each gently onto the table, putting the box they were in on the floor after taking out the instruction manuals for the lot of them. Reading one of them, he leant against the wall, reading out how to use it while simultaneously hoping that he never would have to.

"I see you have everything ready?" asked a voice from across the room from Alex.

"Ready as it ever will be." Alex said, more preoccupied by the microwave which had just finished its job and was now beeping loudly. "The guns you ordered are on the table." he continued, absentmindedly. He heard a set of footsteps behind him approaching the table and himself as he started piling steaming hot chow mien onto three plates.

Claire was already studying the same guide that he was just reading before attending to the meal. She was mumbling something to herself along the lines of "I always knew that Garrett had these hidden somewhere..."

"So where's Zeta?" asked Alex, placing the plates on the table.

"She was here a second ago." replied Claire looking around the room, before realizing why she was missing. "Zeta you look fine, just come in here."

"I look ridiculous!" replied the only other UNSS employee not present. There was a meek shuffling of feet as Zeta moved into visual range. She was wearing what Alex would have normally seen Claire in, which he probably did due to the source of her apparel. It was a simple white t-shirt and a pair of shorts, but it made her look so different from her normal white robe that she was always programmed graphically to wear. "I knew it." she exclaimed, referring to Alex's surprised look on his face.

Claire shot a glare over to Alex, as if to say "You wouldn't believe how hard it was to even get her out here."

"Zeta, you look perfectly normal. I'm just so used to seeing you in that robe that I almost thought that it was attached to you. You actually look really nice." he managed to sputter under pressure. It satiated Claire, who stopped staring daggers at him but Zeta was less convinced only muttering something under her breath and staring at her shoes which were another addition to her outfit. "Seriously, there's nothing wrong with what you're wearing. Now come on, I've just prepared dinner." he was able to elaborate, with more confidence.

Zeta still said nothing, but walked over to where the other two of them were as Alex set the table, having to move the boxes off of the table and along with them the thoughts of how there were probably half a dozen people waiting to kill them. Claire also used the opportunity to put down her instruction manual and sit down at the table.

There was an odd mood in the room as if they were eating their last meal, given to them by a prison warden who was waiting to execute them all. Claire and Alex wore that feeling on their face while they ate slowly, trying to stay calm.

Zeta on the other hand was gulping down her food without abandon. She took little time to chew before taking another bunch of noodles, taking no time to think about anything else. It got to the point where both her counterparts had stopped eating altogether and now stared at her, with smiles on their faces.

"What?" she asked, her mouth still full of food and soya sauce dripping down her face.

"Your food's not going anywhere Zeta." replied Claire, suppressing a laugh.

"Hey, if you hadn't eaten in your entire life, you as well would be as hungry." the newly created AI responded with sarcasm, swallowing her food. "Plus when you haven't tasted food before..." she added before returning to her previous pace, completely ignoring her fellow agents who also returned to their food, but this time in a little bit higher spirits.

The clock on the wall displayed a time of quarter past one, which meant that if the cab was on time, it would have already arrived at the back corner of the building. So, if that was true, the team only had five minutes to get out of the building.

Claire had finished and already picked up her X26, holstering it in her pocket. "Well, I am ready to go." she announced, glancing at her watch.

"So am I." replied Zeta, done long ago and attempting to find a grip on the pistol that would be effective. Her hands were not the same as the average human.

"Just let me take care of the dishes and we can be off."

"Really Alex?" replied Claire, with a raised brow. It took him a second to figure out what was odd about his statement.

"Oh, I guess that's a waste of time then." he said, realizing the plan to detonate the floor and following Claire and Zeta out the door.

"Okay, I know this strategy that we have right now might not be the best..." explained Claire punching in orders to the ground floor into the elevator.

"...or the one with the best chance of survival or the safest or even the most thought out." continued Zeta.

"Regardless of how bad or ill-designed the plan is, we still have to carry it out because it is the best we have. So right now, we are going to march out that door and take the elevator down. The elevator will open into the main hallway." she produced a small floor plan of the building from her pocket and began to draw with a pencil, lines of movement. "There is an access door behind the reception desk, as well as directly right of the elevator door. Whichever one isn't locked is the one we will take. Both lead to a service hallway which leads to fire doors to the back lane."

"I didn't understand a word of it."

"Well then, if you just follow me you won't have to." she replied, stepping into the open elevator and pressing the "close door button" once everyone had followed suit.

It was an odd elevator ride. They all knew that it was the last time they would be taking the trip, for better or for worse. All three of them just kept quiet as the elevator continued on its path delivering them directly to the IHS while playing some quiet music like most elevators did. However today, the music was much different than the regular dampened classical.

"Odd music today." commented Alex, priming his gun.

"Yes, though somehow it fits our situation."

Alex chuckled. "So true." he agreed as the music continued.

_No one's going to take me alive... The time has come to make things right..._

The elevator eventually reached its destination and all of the UNSS agents pressed themselves against the sides, hoping that if the IHS were expecting it, they would be out of the line of fire. They all shuddered as the machine let out an audible 'ding' as the doors opened and the light flooded inwards.

Alex was the first to take a look outside the elevator and into the lobby. Surprisingly, there was no one in the room. Not even the receptionist. The whole situation was awry.

He cautiously motioned for his colleagues to follow him behind the desk, in the relative safety from any sort of ambush that the IHS might through at them. The mahogany wasn't going to stop anything, but would keep their element of surprise intact.

They kept silent as they crept under what they believed would be the proverbial nose of the historical society. Everyone was scared to move a muscle, yet adrenaline and the will to survive made them press on.

Claire was the first to the door, the one opening to the rear hallway often used by the janitorial staff of the building. Peering out, she could see no one approaching so she slowly turned the handle and pushed the door in silently. It was a good thing the door was freshly oiled too, as it did not alert the IHS guards posted behind it when it was opened.

"Nothing here boss." announced an IHS member in the room, looking around him down both ways in the hall. He was talking through a two-way radio to what would be thought of as the supervisor of the operation while clutching in his other hand some sort of handgun. "Proceed with extraction?"

Claire's heart skipped a beat, as the man pondered the question. He was likely to be heading through the doorway they were hiding next to, and he also probably wouldn't be alone.

"Yes." he replied to the person on the other end. "I'll do that right away. You're sending men into the front?"

Claire looked at Alex and made a hand gesture similar to one used by the marines by pointing at the door then prepped her pistol switching the mode it was in.

"Yeah, there's no one here, the receptionist fled and the building is nearly empty anyways." the IHS agent continued, halfway through the conversation. He paced around a bit looking slightly nervous while he waited for the next transmission back to him. When it came, it gave him a reason to be nervous. "Sorry sir... I don't know in which direction she went... I'll get someone to get onto it as soon as you send them in... I got it."

He flipped close the clamshell radio shut and muttered something indeterminable under his breath, angry at his superior. The agent put the radio back in his pocket before taking a leisurely step out from his post and into the brightness of the naturally lit foyer.

However before his foot met the floor, Claire made her move. It took only a fraction of a section for her to turn the corner, to face the man head on. With a thrust of her arm, she drove the two electrodes at the end of her X26 electroshock gun directly into the upper arm of her opponent. It crackled to life sending sparks from the end into the subject, making him collapse backwards under the strain under his body.

Alex was quick to follow, grabbing his other arm as the electric energy stopped flowing to lower him to the ground slowly instead of loudly. "He better not have had any unknown heart defect." thought Alex, but then thinking about it for a second he realized that the man would not have even attempted to preserve his life if he had the chance to kill him.

"Is he going to be okay?" asked Zeta, waiting behind the two of them.

"Most likely he will be." replied Claire, rapidly returning her taser to her pocket while breathing heavily from the shock of actually having to use it. She looked both ways down the hall, making sure they weren't being watched, as she knew that they would be soon if they remained there long. "...but we can't wait here to make sure. We need to hurry, so follow me, the taxi is just down this hall." she continued, pointing down the hall and catching her breath.

Alex took the hint first and bolted down the hall ahead of her. Zeta made sure that the door was shut as they left, even though it wouldn't take them long to figure out that their own operative was no longer there, it would buy them some precious time for them to escape.

Thankfully, there were no IHS operatives waiting for them down the hallway, much less any other tenants of the building that could have wandered into the darkened whitewashed room.

Alex rushed out the doors, his gun half drawn as to not scare any potential bystanders in the area though not thinking of anyone on the other side.

"I think we have a problem, Claire." Alex said to his side as she appeared beside him after running down the hallway. Her natural reflex was to pull out her gun, but seeing what Alex saw stopped her. It wasn't what she thought.

There were two taxicabs parked at the loading dock of the building. Both drivers stood outside their respective taxis, waiting for their passengers, little knowing that they were both looking for the same people.

"Hey, I'm looking for a Claire and company." he read off of a paper print out. "Is that you?" asked a driver, earning a sideways glance from the other who was obviously thinking the same thing.

"I don't have time for this." muttered Claire only to herself; she had only called for one cab to show up.

"We might just be; who called you here?" Alex asked, ahead of Claire.

"Ours was called in from this address earlier today." answered the one on the left. Well, that took care of one of them. What was the other one doing here? Everyone turned to check.

"Somebody named Garrett prepaid me earlier today. I've been given instructions to take you to a specific location he gave me. If you are who he sent for, can you help me out? He gave this ridiculous set of instructions; they're like a kid's treasure map. I have no idea where to go." he explained.

"Sounds like something he would do." said Alex slyly so that only Claire and Zeta could hear him, remembering the last time he had to follow one of his diagrams to get to the station.

"Okay then, since I can't go into two cabs. You..." she pointed at the driver she hired. "I won't need your services. I didn't realize that I had already got someone booked." the other driver nodded and stepped into his car.

"Hey, I drove halfway across town for you. You expect me to waste another tank of gas driving..." he started, now agitated at the party.

"Here's fifty. Are you happy?" replied Claire quickly handing him a red coloured bill, brushing him off. It was the money she would have paid him anyways, perhaps with a little more than needed to be safe. Besides she didn't have time to count change anyways.

All three of them clamoured into the back of the taxi sitting three abreast, as they pulled out of the lane, heading into the street. At long last, they could breathe a sigh of relief that day.

"So, about this place he says to take you to, this station three hundred and seventeen. Does it ring a bell?" he asked, handing the paper back to them. Needless to say, hearing this made it just a little easier for Claire to detonate the explosives only fifty feet away.

Great, that's a wrap. I promise a sequel series as soon as I get to writing a few more chapters of In Ruin as I said I would.

Housekeeping Stuff (Why I did some stuff):

First off: Name origins, or in other words why I named some of the characters the way I did!  
Alex - Meaning "defender of humanity" in Greek, named aptly I believe.  
Claire - Meaning "clear" in French. I tried to write her as a mirror of the people around her.  
Zeta - A greek letter, can be used to measure electrokenetics.  
Garrett - Meaning "warrior" in Archaic German.  
Marcel - Borrowed from Call of Duty 3. Not meant to be a crossover of that character, I was just inspired to write portions of chapter 3 from the game.

Some stuff I didn't do:  
Chapter One - I orignially thought of setting the story in Aukland, NZ. But I had a better knowledge of Vancouver so I used it instead as a host city.  
Chapter Two - Instead of the projected images that Garrett shows him during orientation, I was originally going to write that Garrett brings him into a simulated El Alimein circa 1941.  
Chapter Three - Instead of the op taking place in rural france, I was going to set it in Los Alamos circa 1945.

Also, for anyone who believes this story didn't contain a pokemon. Zeta is a gardevoir, even though I didn't announce it in the story, but you should be able to judge that based upon the story tags and my discription of her.

Lastly, thank-you to all those who reviewed my story. I send thanks to UBE Chief, Sub-human, barnzulla, New guy the first and the final lament. Also thanks to catsthx who reminded me to include a pokemon.

So, without taking up any more space or time from studying for finals, here is a disclaimer to carefully read while you pull yourself from the world cup: (lol, I can't!)

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.


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